Justice for Teresa

By ALISON HORWOOD and PAULA OLIVER

It was the moment for which they had waited 15 years.

Teresa Cormack's parents clasped hands, bowed their heads, and softly whispered "yes" as a jury last night convicted Jules Pierre Nicolas Mikus of the rape and murder of their 6-year-old daughter.

Father Ross Cormack gulped as he heard the jury foreman read "guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty".

Mr Cormack caught the eye of a female juror and mouthed "thanks".

Beside him Kelly Pigott, who last saw her daughter as she left home in an oversized red raincoat at 8.25am on the morning of June 19, 1987, kept a protective arm around her daughter Hannah.

Not realising the enormity of the moment, Hannah, who is a little older than Teresa was when she disappeared, asked her mother: "Are we going now?"

Ms Pigott replied: "Soon."

"Mummy are you crying?" the little girl asked.

"Tears of joy," she answered.

Mikus, a 44-year-old Lower Hutt sickness beneficiary and father of at least seven children, was found guilty of abducting Teresa from a Napier street.

He was also found guilty of raping, sexually violating and murdering her.

Her partially clothed body was found face-down in a shallow grave on Whirinaki Beach after an eight-day search involving a big team of police and thousands of volunteers.

Teresa Cormack's mid-morning disappearance from a suburban street shocked the nation and changed the way many parents took their children to school.

In the Wellington High Court last night, the jury took a little over two hours to reach its verdict.

Throughout his seven-day trial, Mikus remained calm and his eyes - described by one witness as "evil" - were fixed firmly forward.

His only supporter was his partner, Shirley Te Kooti, who sat behind him from the start of the trial to its finish.

The Crown's case was that Mikus went to a primary school at playtime to find a child.

He found Teresa, and enticed her into his red Vauxhall Viva stationwagon with a pink jube lolly.

He drove for 20 minutes to a remote part of Whirinaki Beach, where a witness saw him playing in the sand and picking Teresa up.

He violated her, then smothered her by putting his hand across her nose and mouth.

Crown prosecutor Russell Collins told the jury that Mikus had kept his hideous secret for 15 years.

"He handled it."

Mr Collins described Mikus as a man "science had caught up with".

DNA testing was in its infancy in 1987, but this year semen and pubic hairs found on Teresa's body were forensically linked to Mikus.

The semen was 60 million times more likely to belong to Mikus than any other man in New Zealand.

Closing the Crown case, Mr Collins compared the forensic evidence to a steam roller.

"It couldn't be stopped, and the defence couldn't get out of the way."

Closing the defence case, lawyer Steve Gill told the court Mikus was not the right man.

He was investigated fully in 1987, his house and car were searched, and he gave blood for comparison to semen on Teresa's body.

"That is as valid today as it was in 1987."

The jury retired at 3.13pm. The extended Cormack family spent the next two hours pacing the courthouse and chatting with reporters and police.

When word came that the jury had reached a decision, they rushed for the courtroom door.

Inside, they took the same seats they had during the trial, only three metres from where the man about to be named as the killer of Teresa stood in the dock.

Mikus showed little emotion during the reading of the verdicts.

He briefly squeezed his eyes shut, while behind him Shirley Te Kooti sought comfort from a Salvation Army volunteer.

Justice Warwick Gendall remanded Mikus in custody for sentencing early next month.

He also requested psychology and psychiatry reports because Mikus was eligible for preventive detention.

Justice Gendall thanked the jury on behalf of the community and said it was not easy listening to such "terrible and sad" evidence involving a child.

"To the mother and father of Teresa," he said. "You have agonised for 5600 days wondering whether the killer of your child will ever be brought to justice."

Turning to the jury, he said: "You have seen to that."

As Mikus was led away, Teresa's family embraced.

They had been told earlier by court staff to restrain from any outbursts until Mikus had gone.

As the public gallery emptied, inquiry head Detective Sergeant Brian Schaab remained to embrace the family, including sister Sara, who was two when Teresa went missing.

Mr Schaab has been involved in the investigation since 1987.

The family had a private 15 minutes together before talking to reporters outside the court.

Ms Pigott said hearing the verdicts had been "worth the wait".

Asked what they were feeling, Mr Cormack said, "elation, relief ... and all those other words".

Parts of the evidence were hard to hear, said Ms Pigott, but had been necessary.

'Teresa needed it to be known and I was there for her.

"Off and on I couldn't help but look at him - but he's gone now."

Asked what she would say to Mikus if she had the opportunity, Ms Pigott paused.

"I have never heard him speak so I don't think he would answer anything. And what I have are questions.

"Nothing brings her back, but we can hopefully take back those good memories of the laughing, happy girl we had, and put the ugliness back on to Jules."

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