STORY: "Teina Pora appeal hearing set," published by TVNZ.
GIST: A date has been set for the appeal hearing for convicted murderer Teina Pora. Pora was granted leave to appeal against his convictions, at the Privy Council in London, earlier this year. The appeal hearing has been listed for November 4 and November 5 this year. The board to hear the case is yet to be decided, but Chief Justice Elias has accepted an invitation to sit on the appeal.
Pora was 17 when he was convicted of the 1992 rape and murder of Auckland woman Susan Burdett. Pora maintains he did not commit the crime that sent him to Pora maintains he did not commit the crime that sent him to prison, as does Ms Burdett's brother.
BACKGROUND: (From a previous post of this Blog): STORY: "Teina Pora case: Police fear miscarriage of justice," by reporter Phil Taylor, published by the New Zealand Herald on August 3, 2013. GIST: "In an unprecedented move, the Police Association is calling for an independent inquiry into the conviction of Teina Pora, who is now into his 21st year in prison for the rape and murder of Susan Burdett. President Greg O'Connor told the Weekend Herald that the request was the first in the 16 years he has led the association, which represents rank-and-file police officers, but he believes it is justified on this occasion. It should not be run by the police but could be a ministerial inquiry conducted by a Queen's Counsel. "It's a justice-sector issue. It's not a police issue. The police can't walk up to the prison and say, 'Let him out'." Mr O'Connor said there were sufficient issues that raised the prospect that a miscarriage had occurred, and significant disquiet among police......... The Weekend Herald first revealed in May last year that the detective whose expert testimony convicted Malcolm Rewa of raping Ms Burdett believed Pora was wrongly convicted of her murder. In 1996, DNA testing showed the semen inside Ms Burdett, who was killed in 1992, belonged to Rewa, a serial rapist who was unknown at the time of Pora's trial but was convicted in 1998 of raping her. Detective Dave Henwood, a multi-award-winning criminal profiler, said there were no doubts in his mind Rewa committed the crime alone, and that Pora was innocent. Since then, more doubt has been cast on Pora's conviction, including revelations on TV3's Third Degree this week that a woman raped by Rewa two weeks before the attack on Ms Burdett said she, too, believed an innocent man was in jail. The programme also discovered that before Pora's first trial, police had believed Ms Burdett was attacked by a serial rapist but did not disclose this to Pora's lawyers......... Meanwhile, the investigator who says there is new evidence to show Pora is innocent has accused the police hierarchy of being myopic, selective and wasting public money. Tim McKinnel, a former police detective, has collected new expert opinion evidence that concludes Pora gave a false confession and that Rewa attacked Ms Burdett on his own. He has questioned the police's refusal to review the whole case and attacked its claim that Pora, Rewa and an unknown third man were involved. "This talk of a third offender is not supported by any evidence other than Teina Pora's (false) confessions. I can't see how they can justify spending probably tens of thousands of taxpayers' dollars on this ridiculous search for somebody that any objective review will show doesn't exist. "If they were genuinely looking for a third offender, why did they do nothing for 10 years?""
The entire story can be found at:
http://m.tvnz
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear Reader. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following this case.
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-charles-smith-award-presented-to_28.html
I look forward to hearing from readers at:
hlevy15@gmail.com.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;
