Almost 900 wrongful convictions in 10 years a ‘wrecking ball’ in people’s lives

A couple, who have permanent name suppression, have spent their life's savings to quash the husband's charges. Photo / Mike Scott

Almost 900 people have had their convictions quashed or sent back to court in the past decade, including two men who say their fight for compensation has almost ruined them.

The sobering statistics - that New Zealand’s justice system has got it wrong 893 times - has one defence lawyer calling for a complete overhaul of the system and come as a further 340 people have taken their cases to the Criminal Cases Review Commission to investigate whether they suffered a miscarriage of justice.

So far the Commission, Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, set up in 2020 and replacing the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, has been inundated with applications for help.

Late last year the first case was sent to the Court of Appeal in which a teenage boy was mistakenly imprisoned because the court at the time had an incorrect birth date that made him appear older.

In the cases of the two men spoken to by the Herald, both were convicted of rape but both later had their convictions quashed on appeal.

For Daniel Spence, [not his real name], the wrongful conviction meant he spent more than 4 1/2 years in jail where he was scalded with hot water, beaten, and underwent surgery for prostate cancer.

His conviction was quashed in 2017 after the Court of Appeal said evidence presented at the trial that proved his innocence was not given the significant consideration it should have been.

But despite making an application for compensation then, Spence has watched it stall through four justice ministers and a change of government and is still waiting.

“They’ve absolutely destroyed my life,” he said. “I’m trying to get justice and I’m still at it.”

Another man, Steven [also not his real name], has spent his life’s savings including his Kiwisaver retirement fund clearing his name and seeking compensation.

Steven spent six weeks in jail on a rape conviction handed down at a retrial that the Court of Appeal later said involved a “substantial and troubling” deviation in the complainant’s evidence, and that the trial judge had misdirected the jury on the inconsistency in the statements.

The courts admitted Steven’s prosecution should never have progressed, with his lawyers attempting to stop it three times. Despite that, a 2020 decision application for costs was declined.

Steven and his wife estimated they spent about $143,000 clearing his name while Spence said his bill was upwards of $180,000.

Justice Minister Kiri Allan said there was no legal right for individuals to receive compensation from the Government for wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

“Not every person who has their conviction quashed is entitled to receive compensation,” Allan said.

However, compensation can be paid at the Government’s discretion, she said, under the “Compensation Guidelines for Wrongful Conviction and Imprisonment”.

Defence lawyer Elizabeth Hall labelled the justice system a “wrecking ball in people’s lives” and said it left life-long impacts and was in dire need of overhaul.

“I think this concept that someone could then have their convictions quashed and life goes back to normal is just so grossly inadequate.”

She said public perception of the roles police, the courts, lawyers, and defendants played in the criminal justice system created inaccuracies and cloaked the process in bias.

Reform of the criminal justice system was launched by then Minister Andrew Little with a $1.6 million summit for 600 people in August 2018.

Since then a number of reports have identified areas of concern and made recommendations, including one from the Chief Victims Adviser and another from Māori representatives calling for decolonisation of the justice system.

The Hāpaitia te Oranga Tangata Safe and Effective Justice Programme was a process for public engagement about criminal justice reform that ended in mid-2021, Ministry of Justice criminal policy group general manager Brendan Gage said.

“The initial engagement helped set a new vision and direction for the criminal justice system.”

The programme cost $11.4m over three years.

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