Painful saga finally over

It’s a measure of just how long the family of Susan Burdett have suffered that, when Malcolm Rewa was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for her murder, Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes had to acknowledge the court did not have the ability to impose a minimum non-parole period, as the law had not allowed for one to be imposed in 1992, when the brutal murder took place.

Had it been available, it would have seemed apt for Justice Geoffrey Venning to have felt moved to impose at least the 27 years that had passed between the murder and closure for Burdett’s longsuffering family. It would have meant Rewa’s sentence was likely to be a true life term, in that he would have been virtually certain to end his days in prison.

Fortunately, that is still likely. Rewa, now 66, is already serving a sentence of preventive detention with a minimum non-parole period of 22 years for rape and sexual attacks on 25 women, including Burdett. Although that sentence goes back nearly 21 years, to July 1998, it’s difficult to believe serious consideration will ever be given to releasing him, particularly in light of Justice Venning’s comments at sentencing yesterday.

Telling Rewa he had seen ‘‘no indication of remorse whatsoever’’ for Burdett’s killing, the judge added: ‘‘Even at the age of 66, I see you as a manipulative and controlling person who continues to be a danger to the community.’’

Not that Rewa’s eventual sentencing for murder, after so long, will end the pain for Burdett’s family, who have been forced to endure five trials over 27 years, having a loved one’s brutal death highlighted each time. But it has finally closed a distressing episode. At least they can now be certain the real murderer is behind bars.

Of course, for 22 years, the wrong person, Teina Pora, was imprisoned. Arrested aged 17, he was wrongly convicted in 1994, and then again six years later, in between which Rewa was convicted of Burdett’s rape, based on DNA evidence at the crime scene, but juries in two separate trials failed to reach a verdict on a murder charge. Pora’s conviction was finally quashed by the Privy Council in 2015, and a retrial ruled out. He was later paid compensation of $3.5 million.

Now, less than a year after being declined parole at his first hearing, and after legal wrangling about whether or not he could be tried again, Rewa has finally been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, a step that hopefully draws a line under a horrendous chapter in New Zealand criminal history. Rewa’s reign of terror actually started in 1987, when a woman identified as Ms A, the first known victim in a string of 25 attacks over nine years, made a sexual assault complaint.

In 2014, police apologised to Rewa’s victims for how long it had taken to catch him. The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) released a report that found police failed to properly investigate the attack on Ms A, though chairman Sir David Carruthers said that, even if this had happened, there was no clear evidence Rewa would have been caught earlier.

More than 30 years later, it is to be hoped that advances in investigative techniques would ensure no repeat of this awful, drawn-out situation, but the case should surely be a teaching tool for aspiring police officers in 2019.

At least [Susan Burdett’s family] can now be certain the real murderer is behind bars. Of course, for 22 years, the wrong person, Teina Pora, was imprisoned.