‘If police had done more Jo might be alive’
Family ‘stunned’ by revelation of killer’s previous conviction
Jo Pert’s grieving father says his daughter might be alive today if police had acted on red flags about her killer, who officers let go the night before her death. Pert was fatally stabbed by Tevita Filo as she jogged through Remuera in January 2016. Her death was the final act in a series of incidents involving Filo, including following a couple in their car for 12km while in possession of a knife.
Police this week released parts of the Filo case file to the Weekend Herald, which included a statement from one of the two people he followed the night before the killing, and statements from the police officers who responded to the complaint.
The file revealed Filo had a history of carrying weapons. The file also showed that one of the constables called to the incident the night before Pert was killed knew Filo had previously been convicted of possessing a knife in a public place, and possessing an offensive weapon.
Detail of Filo’s criminal history has shocked Kevin Pert, Jo’s father. He said police had told him that Filo had no relevant prior history “whatsoever.”
Pert said: “They had nothing. I am actually stunned. This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
The statement from one of the people in the car followed by Filo details how the man looked “vacant and strange”, and how he chased them at “a great rate of knots” as they tried to evade him.
When police intervened they removed a large kitchen knife — which he told them he had for his own protection — and then let him go.
The release of the file comes just weeks after the Independent Police Conduct Authority released the findings on complaints into alleged police failings into the way they handled Filo — who was later found not guilty on a charge of murdering Pert by reason of insanity. He is being treated for schizophrenia.
The findings included the IPCA recommending officers should have made more inquiries into allegations Filo was following the couple, and the dispatcher should have notified them Filo’s car was being sought in relation to theft from a shop.
However their actions in warning Filo were justified, and couldn’t be linked to Pert’s death, it ruled.
Kevin Pert said while he and his wife Jan didn’t blame police for their daughter’s death, they were “disappointed” at the findings of the IPCA report.
“There was a deficiency with the way the police acted. We just thought, if the police did a little bit more maybe Jo would have been still alive the next day.
“The guy followed those two people the night before for about 12 kilometres. Well, the way I think about that — that’s actually stalking. That’s a crime.”
The IPCA told the Weekend Herald that while Filo was convicted after being caught carrying a knife and a plastic pistol in November 2012, the information was considered “not material” for their formal findings.
The IPCA complaints were laid by two people connected to Pert, one a former police officer and friend.
Just hours after Pert’s death, police asked the couple followed by Filo for 12km to give statements about their ordeal.
The couple, who can’t be named, had left a friend’s house in St Heliers and noticed Filo, a stranger to them.
The man began to drive but was suspicious enough to note Filo’s licence plate. After driving 300 metres he noticed Filo’s car was following them. He became suspicious after Filo failed to take a turn on to a main thoroughfare. The couple diverted though Highland Park Countdown’s carpark in a bid to get rid of him but that didn’t deter Filo, who did a U-turn and “came speeding into the carpark at a great rate of knots”, the man told police. “He came racing up behind us and didn’t get [right behind] us but close enough that he could continue to follow. That’s when I called the police . . . I stopped trying to shake him off and was just killing time until the police arrived.”
In response to the IPCA report Counties Manukau District Commander Superintendent Jill Rodgers said the constables had used their discretion and “did not have the benefit of hindsight”. Police declined to comment this week, saying they had nothing further to add. When asked specifically about the comments from Pert’s family, police responded: “Police are not going to discuss the details of conversations we held with Ms Pert’s family following her tragic death in January 2016. However, we can say that we kept them fully informed throughout our investigation.”