Teina Pora: New Zealand; Superb 3d Degree documentary sheds new light on the bungled police investigation which allowed a serial rapist to remain free and led to the wrongful prosecution of Teina Pora, an innocent man. 3 News.

STORY: "Cop admits failings in Malcolm Rewa investigation," by reporter Paula Penfield, published on May 21, 2014 by News 3.

GIST: "So awful is Malcolm Rewa's history that his own family has described him as evil. Convicted of sex attacks on 25 women, 3^rd Degree can now reveal police think the real number is as many as 50. 3^rd Degree now has evidence police missed not just one, but many opportunities to catch this serial rapist. As a direct result of a previous 3^rd Degree investigation which included an interview with Rewa's first victim, the Independent Police Conduct Authority launched an inquiry into the police handling of the Rewa case. And there’s another consequence which changes everything about the police position on their investigation, relating to the extraordinary revelation that this first victim had identified her attacker.........His 10^th victim was Susan Burdett. There were tell-tale signs found at the scene of her murder indicating she’d been attacked in the same distinctive way as most of Rewa’s other victims - and his DNA was found at the scene. On the basis of what experts now believe was a false confession, south Auckland teenager Teina Pora was found guilty of her murder – a conviction his lawyers will seek to over-turn at the Privy Council in November. Rewa was twice tried for Ms Burdett's murder but neither jury could reach a verdict. Tonight, for the first time, we get an understanding of why. 3^rd Degree has been contacted by a juror on the Rewa retrial, who says they found too many gaps and blanks to be able to convict him of murder. The Crown argued Rewa raped and murdered Ms Burdett with Pora - a huge deviation from the serial rapist’s usual m/o. So that was confusing. The juror also says the fact they knew Rewa was going to be serving a long sentence for the rapes let them off the hook in finding him guilty of murder. At the heart of this story is justice and injustice. For Ms Burdett, the fact that her real killer has got away with it. For Pora, 21 years in prison for crimes 3^rd Degree believes he didn’t commit. And for the dozens of women who were raped by Malcolm Rewa, the fact that for so many reasons, those crimes should never have happened."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.3news.co.nz/Cop-admits-failings-in-Malcolm-Rewa-investigation/tabid/1771/articleID/345125/Default.aspx

 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/charlessmith

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;