Freedom at last for Teina Pora

The Māori Party is relieved that the Privy Council has cleared the final legal hurdle for Teina Pora who was wrongfully convicted of murder and sent to prison for 22 years.

Earlier this month, the Privy Council in London quashed his murder conviction but still had the option of calling a retrial. Teina Pora has already been tried twice for the rape and murder of Susan Burdett in 1994.

“The shackles of injustice have finally fallen from Teina Pora and he can walk in this world as a free man,” says Māori Party Co-leader Marama Fox.

“I struggle to contemplate the opportunities he has lost as a young man who has spent more than half of his life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.”

Māori Party Co-leader Hon Te Ururoa Flavell says the party supported Teina Pora and his whānau as soon as serious doubts were raised about the wrongful conviction and it exhausted all political avenues in a bid to have Teina Pora pardoned.

“While we celebrate the final outcome, this case could have been dealt with a lot quicker and with less expense if an independent commission was established to hear cases such as these. Teina Pora should have been declared innocent years ago”, says Mr Flavell.

The Māori Party expects that Teina Pora will be offered a Crown apology and compensation for the devastating effect this wrongful conviction has had on his life. It also acknowledges that the freeing of Teina Pora does not give any closure to the Burdett family.

“We support the call by her brother for the case to be re-opened, in order to bring justice to the Burdett family over the loss of their loved one”, says Mr Flavell.

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