Convicted Opotiki teen wins retrial

The Court of Appeal has granted a retrial for Lori-lea Te Wini after she was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of retired Opotiki school teacher John Rowe in 2008. File photo / Stephen Parker

One of two teenagers convicted of murdering retired Opotiki school teacher John Rowe in 2008 has won a retrial, while the Court of Appeal reserved its decision on the other.

Cousins Lori-lea Waiora Te Wini and Courtney Patricia Churchward had appealed their convictions and sentences, handed down by Justice Geoffrey Venning in December 2009.

Both were given life sentences with a minimum 17-year non-parole term but the Court of Appeal has granted a retrial for Te Wini. Its decision on Churchward's appeal is reserved.

Te Wini, 15 at the time and one of the youngest New Zealanders to be convicted for murder, was given no allowance for her age by Justice Venning. Churchward is a year older than her first cousin.

Justice Venning told the teens their attack on the 78-year-old had been brutal, sustained and meted out by both.

Their families had failed them in "the most basic of ways" in their upbringings, he said.

- NZPA