A 3rd Degree investigation has revealed another extraordinary twist in the case of Teina Pora.
He was convicted of the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett after telling police he'd witnessed the attack. Many experts consider his confession false and his conviction a miscarriage of justice.
Now it has been discovered police had already figured out the Auckland woman had been attacked by a serial rapist before Pora went to trial. But the DNA tests that would prove that serial rapist was Malcolm Rewa didn't come back until after Pora was convicted.
Detective Sergeant Mark Williams is the policeman who initially interviewed Pora.
Pora's brother, Pat Pora, was only 14 when Teina was convicted. He's now 34.
"It's actually a real miscarriage of justice what happened to him," says Pat.
A 3rd Degree investigation has uncovered evidence that Mr Williams had figured out the Burdett attack was the work of a serial rapist even before Pora went to trial. Mr Williams had drawn a connection between the Burdett case and three other unsolved rapes.
"The reasons for coming to this conclusion were due to what appeared to me to be a number of compelling similarities in modus operandi and criminal signature," says an affidavit from Mr Williams.
To confirm his conclusion, Mr Williams asked forensic scientists to compare the DNA found at one of the rape scenes with the DNA found at the scene of the Burdett attack.
However, ESR says it has no record of the test being carried out prior to Pora's 1994 trial, and that ESR did not write to police to tell them of a DNA connection until May 1995 – 20 months after the initial request.
The DNA was found to belong to serial rapist Rewa, eventually convicted of raping 27 women, including Burdett. Seventeen attacks were after Burdett was killed.
In that time, Pora had been sent to prison, where he remains 20 years later, leaving family desperate to have him freed.
"They never did a proper job of it," says Pat. "Twenty years behind bars for nothing he'd done – one day he will get out. I can't wait till that day."
Police say because Pora has been found guilty, they will not discuss the case. In the meantime, his new legal team is preparing to seek a pardon.
3 News
source: newshub archive
