DNA testing again delays David Tamihere appeal

DNA testing in America of hair samples has further delayed the long-awaited appeal by David Tamihere in the Swedish backpackers case.

Tamihere was convicted of murdering Heidi Paakkonen, 21, and her fiance´ , Urban Hoglin, 23, in the Coromandel in April 1989.

He served 20 years in prison, but has always denied being guilty, and the case remains one of the country’s most controversial homicide investigations.

In April 2020, the minister of justice and governor-general referred the case back to the Court of Appeal because of concerns about Tamihere’s conviction.

But nearly three years later, the case has yet to be heard, with Crown Law confirming mitochondrial DNA testing on hair samples is taking place at an American forensic laboratory.

The results of this testing will be released to the Crown and Tamihere’s legal team at the same time, and his appeal is now due to be heard on July 12.

Numerous other exhibits from the case, including clothing, have been recently re-tested, given DNA analysis in criminal cases was in its infancy in 1989.

Crown Law, which oversees all prosecutions in New Zealand, has blamed Covid-19 lockdowns as being primarily responsible for delays in forensic testing in Tamihere’s case.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Tamihere’s first appeal in 1992.

In 2017, following a private prosecution, a jury found that jailhouse informer Roberto Conchie Harris had lied about Tamihere confessing to him about the murders while in prison. Claims that Tamihere dumped Hoglin’s body at sea were undermined when a shallow grave was found near Whangamatā .

Tamihere applied for the royal prerogative of mercy – a last gasp request for another appeal.

His case was reviewed by retired High Court judge Sir Graham Panckhurst.

He found that Harris’ evidence had been used at trial to support the eyewitness identification of two trampers who claimed to have seen Tamihere with someone resembling Paakkonen.

But given Harris’ testimony had now been shown to be false, it raised potential doubts about the trampers’ identification, and Panckhurst recommended the case be reconsidered by the Court of Appeal.

Tamihere’s case was one of the last to be considered under the royal prerogative of mercy, which has now been superseded by an independent agency looking at possible wrongful convictions, the Criminal Cases Review Commission.