KEY POINTS:
David Tamihere, convicted of the murders of two Swedish tourists in 1990, did not act alone, a book released this week claims.
Author, documentary maker and producer of the TV series The Investigator, Bryan Bruce told the Sunday Star-Times he believed police got the right man but speculated that Tamihere had an accomplice when he killed Heidi Paakonen and Urbahn Hoglin.
He said while it suited the Crown to paint Tamihere as a dangerous loner, its own evidence suggested he was more gregarious driving tourists around the Coromandel in the dead couple's stolen Subaru and staying at a tourist lodge.
He argued in the book that the forensic evidence from the remains of Urbahn Hoglin found in October 1991 indicated Hoglin might have been stabbed from the front while being held from behind.
He said if Tamihere held Hoglin while he was stabbed, it would explain why there were no cuts on Hoglin's hands and why Tamihere didn't get any blood on him.
"It's the killer, in front, who gets covered with Urbahn's blood a killer who does not leave blood in the Subaru because he leaves the scene in another car."
Although Bruce believes Tamihere was rightly convicted, he is adamant he deserved a retrial after the finding of Hoglin's body destroyed several key strands in the prosecution case.
- NZPA
