Criminal Cases Review Commission chief executive Parekawhia McLean says the independant body aims to refer a case back to the courts by the end of the year. Photo / Māori TV
Criminal Cases Review Commission chief executive Parekawhia McLean says the independant body aims to refer a case back to the courts by the end of the year. Photo / Māori TV
The Crown entity tasked with investigating miscarriages of justice is poised to refer a case back to the courts before the end of the year.
It would be the first case referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission Te Kāhui Tātari Ture since the independent body was set up in July 2020.
Chief executive Parekawhia McLean said there were a couple of cases being investigated by Te Kāhui that were now ready to be considered by its commissioners.
After that, it's expected one related to an unjust sentence will be referred back to an appeal court for a new hearing, which could lead to the sentence being reduced.
"We're aiming to have our first referral before the end of this calendar year," McLean told Open Justice.
"We've got a couple of cases that will move through to our commissioners who consider and make a referral."
Gail Maney spent 15 years in prison for ordering the murder of Deane Fuller-Sandys. Maney has maintained her innocence since before she was convicted in 1999. Photo / File
McLean could not say what the case was about, other than it was a claim of an unjust sentence.
Te Kāhui also receives applications for help overturning wrongful convictions.
By June 30 this year, the commission had received 308 applications, 90 of which had been closed either because they had not exhausted the appeals process through the courts, they were beyond the commission's jurisdiction, or they were not in the interests of justice to pursue.
A case falls outside the jurisdiction of the commission when the person the application is about is dead, or if the crime was committed overseas.
Asked whether the commission would consider investigating cases posthumously, McLean - who spoke to a hui of the country's Community Law Centres last week - said this was something its seven commissioners were cognisant of.
Alan Hall's murder conviction was overturned this year after 37 years and an investigation has been launched into his wrongful conviction. He is now seeking compensation. Photo / Greg Bowker
Such work would require legislative change, and McLean said the commissioners, led by Queen's Counsel Colin Carruthers, were awaiting the outcome of the Supreme Court's decision into the appeal by convicted child sex abuser Peter Ellis, who died in 2019.
"The commission, however, acknowledges the Te Ao Māori view of those tupuna who have been wrongfully convicted and sentenced in the past and are keeping a watchful eye on cases that may address these matters."
The commission's 218 remaining cases were currently moving through the triage, assessment, and investigation process, which McLean said took time.
Te Kāhui has been criticised for its slow start, with no referrals in the two years since it began, but McLean said there had been huge demand for the free service, and each case had to be assessed, and those approved thoroughly investigated before reaching the referral stage.
"We're into our third year now and many of our cases are very complex and require an intensive amount of work, investigation, review of files, then they need to take evidence from witnesses and we have to talk to forensic specialists. It's a lot of work."
When the commission was set up by the Government in 2020, the expectation of 125 applications each year - or on average 10 per month - was exceeded in the first year.
Former police officer turned private investigator Tim McKinnel has worked on the cases of Alan Hall, Teina Pora and Gail Maney, to name a few. Photo / Jason Oxenham
So far, 16 cases had progressed to a full investigation.
Of the 308 applications, 93 per cent were from men. Of the total applications, 42 per cent were from Pākehā, and 37 per cent Māori.
This is despite Māori, and particularly Māori and Pasifika women, along with those under the age of 39, being disproportionately represented in criminal justice statistics.
The commission, one of only four in the world, replaced the Royal prerogative of mercy, which only received about 10 cases per year.
Asked if Te Kāhui, granted $16 million over four years, would request more funding from the Government, McLean said: "There are some capacity issues".
"That's a conversation that we're having with the Ministry of Justice and our Minister [of Justice, Kiri Allen]."
Teina Pora's convictions for the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett were quashed by the Privy Council in 2015. He spent 22 years in jail and received $3.5 million in compensation. Photo / Michael Craig
Te Kāhui connector Samantha Smith said the Royal prerogative of mercy, where the Governor-General had powers to refer a person's conviction or sentence back to the appeal courts or pardon a person, had failed to receive and encourage applications from Māori and Pacific people when it existed.
Those two groups only made up between 11 and 16 per cent of all applications to the Royal prerogative of mercy, despite the two vulnerable populations making up more than 60 per cent of prisoners, Smith said.
The commission also has secondary functions to report to the Minister of Justice to identify issues within the justice system.
Last year, Te Kāhui highlighted themes of procedural, social and substantive criminal law issues as potential areas for inquiry, including a review of identification evidence law, policy, and procedure, access to justice issues, Māori versus non-Māori sentencing, and issues related to conviction with party liability - under section 66 of the Crimes Act 1961.
