Police offered Teina Pora up to $50,000 to name the man whose semen was found in the battered body of Susan Burdett.
The offer was made in 1996, two years after Pora was convicted of being involved in the rape and murder of the 39-year-old in her Papatoetoe home on March 23, 1992.
In 1998 serial rapist Malcolm Rewa, who was scientifically matched to the semen found in Susan Burdett's body, was convicted of raping her, but a jury could not agree on a charge of murder.
Last year, the Court of Appeal granted Pora a retrial on charges of aggravated burglary, rape and murder.
Over the past two weeks, a jury at Pora's new trial in the High Court at Auckland has seen videotapes in which Pora said he helped to hold Susan Burdett down while two senior Mongrel Mob men, whose names are suppressed, raped her and killed her with a baseball bat.
Pora and the two gang members provided samples but analysis ruled them out as the source of the semen.
Yesterday, the officer in charge of the inquiry, Detective Inspector Steve Rutherford, told the jury that forensic scientists had established a DNA link between the semen found in Susan Burdett and sex attacks on a number of other women.
At a meeting of top-level officers it was decided to offer Pora money for information. "We were prepared to pay up to $50,000 for information leading to the identification of the person who had left semen inside Susan Burdett's body and a number of other women but the reward, as I recall it, was not publicised," said Mr Rutherford.
Cross-examined by Pora's lawyer, Marie Dyhrberg, Mr Rutherford confirmed that the reward was offered before Rewa was identified.
He also confirmed that Pora did not give the police Rewa's name.
The inspector told crown prosecutor Paul Davison, QC, that in January 1996 Marie Dyhrberg wrote to the police indicating she had a client who could give information which would lead to the identification of the person who raped Susan Burdett and, it appeared, was responsible for her "mortal wounds."
Mr Rutherford told the jury that he was aware from previous correspondence that the client Marie Dyhrberg was referring to was Pora.
Earlier in the trial a former detective constable, Murray Van Der Maas, told the jury he had gone to Paremoremo prison in March 1996 to offer Pora a "monetary reward."
Pora gave a version of events and named a person as the rapist, but investigations showed the person was "not involved at all," Mr Van Der Maas said.
Final addresses by the Crown and the defence will be heard today.
Police offered Pora cash for rapist's name
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.