The Crown is prosecuting Malcolm Rewa for the murder of Susan Burdett for a third time. Photo / File
The Crown is prosecuting Malcolm Rewa for the murder of Susan Burdett for a third time. Photo / File
Media coverage of Teina Pora's wrongful conviction and imprisonment for the murder of Susan Burdett, including a telemovie last Sunday, has potentially contaminated a third trial for Malcolm Rewa, says his lawyer.
Rewa, a serial rapist who was sentenced to preventative detention for raping Burdett and 24 other women, hasagain been charged with the Auckland woman's murder.
A third trial has been scheduled for next year, however, today in the High Court at Auckland, Rewa's lawyer Paul Chambers argued too much time has passed and "the prejudicial qualities" of past media publications will prevent a fair trial for his client.
Pora may also be called as a witness for the February trial, the court heard.
Chambers is asking Justice Geoffrey Venning, the Chief High Court Judge, to dismiss the charge and apply a permanent stay of proceedings.
Calvin Tuteao played Malcolm Rewa in the telemovie In Dark Places. Photo / Supplied
Chambers said a dramatised 90-minute television film about Pora's case, In Dark Places, played on TVNZ 1 last Sunday, adds to the prejudicial publicity of the well-known case.
"It's in the back of their minds, whether consciously and subconsciously," he said of a potential jury pool.
"It's in the tone of the [media] commentary, it's in the tone of the movie."
Chambers said there was a perception in the public of comparing Pora to Rewa, which has been expressed openly in the media and film.
Rewa maintains he is not the murderer.
In Dark Places has been entered as evidence in the proceedings, with Justice Venning having seen the film along with more than 240,000 other people, according to South Pacific Pictures.
The film, Chambers told the court, depicts Rewa hiding in a closet before Burdett's murder. A similar rape is foreshadowed later in the movie.
"Nothing is portrayed for balance," Chambers said.
"With the release of the film, Mr Rewa cannot get a fair trial."
Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes said "publicity alone is certainly not going to win the day for [Rewa]".
A stay of proceedings for a murder prosecution against Rewa had previously been applied by the Solicitor-General in 1998.
But last year the Deputy Solicitor-General, Brendan Horsley, on behalf of the Attorney-General, reversed the 1998 stay.
Teina Pora was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of Susan Burdett. Photo / Nick Reed
In May, Justice Venning declined an application by Chambers for a judicial review of the decision to lift the stay.
"The reversal-of-stay document sets out the grounds for the decision, namely that given the quashing of Mr Pora's convictions no one has been held accountable for a murder, and the evidential sufficiency supporting the murder charge against Mr Rewa," he said in his decision.
"There is no evidence before the court of any bad faith on the part of the Attorney-General in relation to the decision to lift the stay. The fact the effect of lifting the stay is that Mr Rewa will face a third trial is not, of itself, sufficient to provide justification for the court to review the Attorney-General's decision. Third trials, although rare, have been held in certain cases."
