Fate of second compensation bid unclear after Rex Haig dies
THE family of Dunedin man Rex Haig are unsure what will become of their attempt to mount another bid for compensation, after his death, aged 70, on Friday.
Mr Haig was convicted in 1995 for the murder of Mark Roderique and spent 10 years in prison. Mr Roderique went missing on a fishing trip near Westland on Mr Haig’s boat the previous year.
Mr Haig had long fought to have the murder conviction overturned. After an initial appeal was turned down, the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction in 2006.
His compensation claim the following year was rejected, but in recent months he had been mounting a new case for compensation.
A justice system reform Mr Haig had supported, the establishment of a Criminal Cases Review Commission, may become reality in this country.
A similar independent commission has been operating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 1997.
The commission has the power to refer cases back to the appeal courts for a fresh appeal. Its main role is to investigate cases where people had been convicted of a criminal offence and lost an appeal, but believe they have been wrongly convicted.
Mr Haig’s sister, Sandra Breese, of Mosgiel, said yesterday she was encouraged that establishing a similar commission in this country had been supported by Labour and New Zealand First and is part of their recent coalition agreement.
Her brother had long supported establishing a commission.
Mr Haig had remained busy and was in good health, but had gone ‘‘through the mill’’ and travelled ‘‘a long hard road’’ in search for justice.
A commission could have got involved earlier, before her brother had served a 10year sentence, and could help other people in the future.
It was ‘‘somewhere for people to go for help’’ if they had been wrongly convicted but an appeal had failed.
A wrongful conviction not only harmed the convicted person but took a toll on family members and friends.
Although she had been free, she had felt she was with her brother in prison while he was serving his sentence, she said.
‘‘I think there will be a criminal justice review commission put in place,’’ she said.
Mr Haig’s daughter, Angela HaigMcauliffe, said her father died peacefully near Dunedin on Friday and his family were ‘‘all just devastated and speechless’’.
‘‘We’re going to miss him so much,’’ she said.
Ms HaigMcauliffe was unsure what would now happen with the recent efforts to mount another compensation bid.
‘‘At the moment, that will be a family decision; when we get together we’ll make it.’’
The family was ‘‘very close’’ and supported her father through difficult times, she said.
University of Otago Law Faculty dean Prof Mark Henaghan said compensation claims involved a government decision.
Under current rules, the government had to be ‘‘satisfied the person is innocent on the balance of probabilities’’.
A judge or QC is asked to do an inquiry.
If the person is found to be innocent there is a formula to pay compensation. The new government have adjusted the formula to allow for inflation as they did recently for Teina Pora.