A Court of Appeal hearing will be held this month over Malcolm Rewa's conviction for murdering Susan Burdett nearly two decades ago. Photo / Michael Craig
A Court of Appeal hearing will be held this month over Malcolm Rewa's conviction for murdering Susan Burdett nearly two decades ago. Photo / Michael Craig
Convicted killer Malcolm Rewa claims his jury at last year's trial for the murder of Susan Burdett was biased and had predetermined its verdict.
The serial rapist's lawyer also argues a suppression order created an "insurmountable hurdle", court documents obtained by the Herald show.
The case, which has spanned nearlytwo decades, will continue this month in the Court of Appeal as Rewa seeks to overturn his conviction for the 1992 Auckland killing - one of New Zealand's most infamous.
At a hearing in Wellington on February 20, Rewa will argue his jury was biased and had "predetermined" its verdict without considering the evidence, court papers read.
Court of Appeal president Justice Stephen Kos and Justices Mark Cooper and David Collins are expected to hear the appeal.
"The jury retired to deliberate 25 minutes before the lunch break. It was confirmed to me from a confidential source that deliberations did not start until 15 minutes after the lunch break," Chambers said in the documents.
"That means the jury spent exactly one hour and twenty minutes traversing more than 400 pages of the [notes of evidence] and the hundreds of pages of booklet exhibits. That is not just evidence of an unreasonable jury verdict, that is insulting to my client and to the memory of the victim."
During his trial, Rewa claimed he was in a secret sexual relationship with Burdett - which he said explained his semen being found at the crime scene.
Chief High Court judge Justice Geoffrey Venning, who presided over the trial, has said the claim was "a further injustice and indignity on Ms Burdett and her memory".
Rewa also accused Burdett's son Dallas McKay of the murder and said a possible motive might have been the $250,000 he inherited from his mum's life insurance policy.
Susan Burdett was murdered in her South Auckland home in 1992. Photo / Supplied
The Court of Appeal documents further reveal Rewa will argue his jury relied heavily upon propensity evidence to justify its verdict, without considering the physical evidence.
Before the trial, the Court of Appeal allowed the Crown to use 20 of Rewa's previous rape convictions to display a pattern of offending.
The attack on Burdett, Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes said at trial, displayed all the hallmarks of a typical Rewa crime.
Several of his rape victims had their legs crossed or dangling over the bed, their eyes blindfolded, and top half covered.
Burdett was found lying naked on her bed, her upper half covered with a blood-soaked blue duvet after she was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat, while her legs were crossed and hanging over the side of the bed.
Kayes said Rewa had entered through a window at Burdett's South Auckland home and surprised the 39-year-old as she prepared for bed - a style of attack he was known for.
Justice Geoffrey Venning told Rewa: "The evidence against you was overwhelming." Photo / Michael Craig
Justice Venning told Rewa at his sentencing last March that "the evidence against you was overwhelming."
But Justice Venning's decision to refuse to grant a stay of the proceeding had impinged on Rewa's fair trial rights, Chambers argues in the Court of Appeal documents.
A 1998 stay of the murder charge against Rewa was lifted in 2017, allowing a third trial to proceed.
Rewa had two previous trials in 1998 over the accounts clerk's murder. Both juries, however, were unable to reach a conclusion for the murder but Rewa was convicted of Burdett's rape at his second trial.
During pretrial hearings, Chambers also argued historical media publicity and a 2018 telemovie was prejudicial to Rewa's case.
Paul Chambers said the jury's relatively quick verdict was "insulting to my client and to the memory of the victim." Photo / Jason Oxenham
Tragically, the case also led to one of New Zealand's great injustices - the prosecution and imprisonment of Teina Pora.
Pora was just 17 years old when he was arrested before twice being wrongly convicted of murdering Burdett.
He spent 22 years in prison, as Rewa "took advantage" of Pora's false confession to police, Justice Venning said.
Rewa was sentenced to life imprisonment for Burdett's murder, which will be served concurrently with his existing 22-year preventive detention sentence for his rapes.
