Rewa murder re-trial likely

Serial rapist Malcolm Rewa is likely to be re-tried for the murder of Auckland woman Susan Burdett.

‘‘The Manukau Crown Solicitor has filed documents in the Auckland High Court to initiate the process of seeking to have Malcolm Rewa re-tried for the murder of Susan Burdett,’’ a police spokesperson said yesterday.

‘‘The matter is before the courts and Police cannot provide any further comment, including legal commentary or timeframes on the process involved.’’

Burdett, an accounts clerk, was killed in her Papatoetoe home on March 23, 1992. Although Rewa was convicted of Burdett’s rape based on DNA left at the scene, there were two hung juries over the murder charge.

Teina Pora – then just 17 – made a false confession to police saying he had killed Burdett. He was tried for her murder and found guilty.

A miscarriage of justice was later declared by the Privy Council and he was freed in 2015 following a dogged investigation by private investigator Tim McKinnel.

Pora had made the confession to police after reward money was promised in return for information, despite him being unable to give accurate details about how Burdett was killed.

The Privy Council later heard evidence that Pora had foetal alcohol syndrome that made his confession unsafe.

Yesterday, McKinnel said the move to re-try Rewa was a welcome step.

‘‘We’ve been pushing the police for several years to re-examine the evidence in Susan Burdett’s murder,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s clear that they’ve done that, and this must be an encouraging step for the Burdett family.’’

Last year, three women who were raped by Rewa called on the police to initiate a prosecution for the murder.

Ingrid Squire, on Pora’s legal defence team, has previously said the murder charge would have been difficult for the juries to get across because they would have known someone else had confessed to the murder.