Lawyer says Burdett knew killer
Susan Burdett knew her killer, the lawyer for serial rapist Malcolm Rewa says.
Rewa is on trial at the High Court in Auckland for the murder of Burdett, who was killed in 1992 at her south Auckland home.
In his closing address yesterday, Rewa’s lawyer, Paul Chambers, said Burdett was attacked in her bedroom, likely while sitting on her bed.
‘‘She either let [her killer] in or he had a key,’’ Chambers said.
He said Burdett had not been surprised by her killer and would not have sat on her bed while being attacked.
Chambers also pointed to the windowsill in Burdett’s room, which appeared to have dust on it, and questioned how the killer could have used the window to get in – which was what the Crown alleged Rewa had done.
He said Burdett’s son, Dallas McKay, had a key to his mother’s Papatoetoe unit and stood to gain $250,000 in inheritance.
Chambers said McKay’s alibi was based on a phone call that he was said to have made from Whangarei, but that call could not be verified.
‘‘He’s been ignored [as a suspect] in favour of the convicted rapist, Mr Rewa.’’
Rewa’s evidence earlier this week was that he was having a secret affair with Burdett.
Chambers said defence witness Winsome Ansty had told the court her friend Burdett had confided in her about a secret affair she was having. Ansty described him as Ma¯ori, with gang affiliations. She said he sold drugs and was married with children.
Earlier, Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes closed the case for the prosecution and asked why Burdett, who loved baking and gardening would have a secret affair with a drug-using gang member. Kayes said the answer to that question was that there was no affair, and Rewa had made up the story to try to explain away evidence.
That evidence pointed directly to him being the man who broke into Burdett’s home, attacked her, raped her and murdered her.
Kayes said Burdett was an accounts clerk with a close circle of friends. She despised drugs.
‘‘Do you think she was having sex with Malcolm Rewa, a highlyranked sergeant at arms of a bike club?’’
Kayes said all the evidence pointed directly at Rewa.
He said there were striking similarities between the attack on Burdett and 20 of Rewa’s other victims.
Justice Geoffrey Venning was to sum up the case today before the jury considered its verdict.