Tonight on 3rd Degree: a New Invesigation into the Case of Teina Pora

TV3’s 3rd Degree will tonight air an explosive new investigation into the case of Teina Pora.

Pora was arrested in 1993 for the rape and murder of Susan Burdett in her Papatoetoe home, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He remains in prison 20 years on.

Serial rapist Malcolm Rewa was arrested in 1996 for the rape and murder of Susan Burdett. He was convicted of her rape, but two juries could not decide on the murder charge. He is serving a sentence of preventive detention for attacks on 25 women. The police case remains to this day that on one of those occasions, the rape and murder of Susan Burdett, he took along an accomplice: Teina Pora.

Tonight’s 3rd Degree investigation includes damning new revelations which the programme says make it the biggest miscarriage of justice in New Zealand history.

Pora remains in prison 20 years on, locked up for a crime 3rd Degree says he did not commit.

The programme features an interview with a Rewa victim.

“She was the victim immediately prior to Susan Burdett and what she has to say is incredibly powerful and you’ll hear her say in no uncertain terms why she thinks Teina Pora didn’t commit that crime and why Malcolm Rewa did,” says journalist Paula Penfold.

“We’ll also expose when and just how much the police knew about the fact they were dealing with a serial rapist. The answers to those questions are damning.”

Police also front for the first time.

“We ask them about whether they will reopen the file because if and when it’s proven that Teina Pora is innocent it will be the biggest miscarriage of justice in New Zealand history,” says Penfold.

“To put that in context Teina has been in prison for 20 years. David Bain did 13, Arthur Allan Thomas did nine, David Dougherty did three. So the scale of this is hugely significant and important and you have to ask why it was ignored for so long when even experienced detectives have been saying within the police since 1996 that Teina Pora is innocent?”

3rd Degree – Wednesdays, 8.30pm on TV3
3News.co.nz/3rdegree

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