Rewa’s application dismissed

The Supreme Court has dismissed Malcolm Rewa’s application for leave to hear an appeal against his convictions for Susan Burdett’s murder and rape.

Last February, the Court of Appeal upheld the 2019 jury’s verdicts and dismissed his appeal, saying there was no miscarriage of justice.

South Auckland man Teina Pora was earlier wrongfully convicted of Burdett's murder when he was 17.

He spent more than two decades in prison before his conviction was quashed by the Privy Council.

He was later given about $2.5 million for the wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

In the Supreme Court decision released yesterday, Rewa’s lawyers Quentin Duff and Scott McColgan said the proposed grounds of appeal was that Rewa’s conviction for Burdett’s rape was wrongly admitted under the Evidence Act.

The propensity evidence of Rewa’s convictions for sexual offending against 21 other victims was wrongly admitted, and Rewa was deprived his right to a fair trial due to the lack of effective representation by his lawyer at trial, they said.

The Supreme Court said “no issue of principle arises, and there is no risk of a possible miscarriage of justice”.

“It is therefore not in the interests of justice to grant Mr Rewa’s application for leave to appeal.”

At Rewa’s sentencing in March 2019, Justice Geoffrey Venning described Rewa as a “manipulative and controlling person” who continued to pose a danger to the community. He said the evidence against Rewa was overwhelming, and his refusal to accept responsibility had hung over the Burdett family for 27 years.

Justice Venning also said Rewa had taken advantage of Pora’s false confession at his first two trials.