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Thirty years after being convicted of the murder of two Swedish tourists, David Tamihere will have his case reconsidered a second time by the Court of Appeal.
Tamihere received the rare legal line of a Royal Mercy Prerogative after the Cabinet and Governor-General signed it on Tuesday.
The rare legal move means that Tamihere’s case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal for reconsideration, 30 years after he was found guilty of murdering Urban Hoglin and Heidi Paakkonen.
Tamihere was sentenced to life in prison and was paroled after turning 20. He has always maintained his innocence.
READ MORE:
* ‘Witness C’ to Tamihere trial loses appeal for perjury sentence
* ‘Witness C’ of Tamihere trial appeals against perjury sentence
* Arthur Taylor asks police to indict Roberto Conchie Harris, also known as Witness C, for perjury
* Secret Witness B in the murder trial of David Tamihere named Stephen Kapa
* David Tamihere deserves a chance to clear his name
ARCHIVE / SUNDAY STAR-TIMES
Swedish tourists Urban Hoglin and Heidi Paakkonen were killed after disappearing in Coromandel in 1989.
Justice Minister Andrew Little said he had received advice on the case from the Ministry of Justice, who was assisted by a retired Superior Court judge.
“Since the matter will be brought to court shortly, I will not comment further,” Little said.
The order means that Tamihere’s case will be heard again by the Court of Appeals.
Tamihere has been represented by attorney Murray Gibson for the past 26 years.
Gibson said the decision was “very appropriate.”
The development comes three years after a key part of the Crown’s case against Tamihere collapsed.
Three secret witnesses, all snitches from prison, gave crucial evidence as part of the largely circumstantial Crown case against Tamihere.
The three witnesses told the court that Tamihere had confessed in graphic details about how he had killed the couple.
NEWSHUB
Roberto Conchie Harris, also known as Witness C, gave false evidence against David Tamihere in his double murder trial in 1989.
Witness C, who has since been identified as Roberto Conchie Harris, was convicted of perjury in 2017.
Harris was sentenced to eight years and seven months in prison by Judge Christian Whata after being convicted of lying in the Tamihere trial three decades ago.
Harris was already serving a life sentence for killing his cousin Martin Crossely and Crossely’s partner Carol Pye in February 1983.
While in prison, he gave evidence in the Tamihere double murder trial, saying that Tamihere had confessed to him that he had killed Hoglin and Paakkonen.
Following Tamihere’s conviction, Harris retracted his evidence, saying that he had fabricated the evidence after reaching an agreement with the police.
SQUIRES OF STACY / THINGS
Jail attorney Arthur Taylor filed the private indictment against Roberto Conchie Harris. Taylor was granted probation.
Prisoner and jail attorney Arthur Taylor filed a private trial against Harris, led by attorney Murray Gibson.
The two-week jury trial resulted in Harris being convicted of nine charges of perjury.
Since his murder conviction, Harris has been paroled twice and has been revoked both times. After its initial release in 1995, it was withdrawn from the market after a serious assault.
In 2008, he was accused of committing an indecent act against a girl on the same day that she was released. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years and three months in prison. A parole report released in 2012 rated it as a high risk of recidivism.
Little is known about Witness B, who has since been identified as Stephen Kapa.
Kapa told police that he met Tamihere in Auckland’s southern Mt Eden prison block to attend church, but instead the couple went to a cell and smoked cannabis.
Kapa said that while watching television, a news article about the Swedish couple appeared. Kapa said Tamihere commented on how their bodies “would never be found.”
He said that days later, the couple returned to watching television when Tamihere told them that they had “cut” them.
However, in 1991 intact remains of Hoglin were found near Whangamata on the Coromandel Peninsula, contradicting evidence from Kapa.
Kapa died in a car accident in 1995.
The only witness whose name is not public is Witness A.
Documents obtained by Stuff Witness A gave evidence in several high-profile murder and drug trials in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including that of Tamihere.
The man was charged with the murder of his partner in the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, he was released from prison and arrested shortly after for supplying heroin.
After his release, the man became involved in a major drug network that focused on smuggling heroin into New Zealand.
STUFF
A young David Tamihere appearing in Auckland District Court after his arrest.
When the police arrested him, they reached an agreement to help bring down the others involved in the union.
The police then began using the man as an informant, commissioning him to present evidence in some of the country’s most controversial criminal trials.
Tamihere said Stuff in 2017 how a juror was ill after A’s account at his trial.
“Halfway through the evidence of the first type, one of the jurors got sick. The evidence was so bad. I looked at the jury and there was nothing we could say to change it. It was a closed deal,” Tamihere said.
