Watching 3rd Degree on Wednesday night it soon became evident the journalist asking the questions knew more about the case than the senior detective put up to answer them.
The interview followed an investigative piece by reporter Paula Penfold and producer Eugene Bingham on the arrest and conviction of Teina Pora for killing Susan Burdett in Auckland in 1992 and the case against Malcolm Rewa who was found guilty of raping her.
It is clear Pora did not kill Miss Burdett. It is equally clear that convicted rapist Rewa did. It is not just the defence side of the justice system that believes this, according to 3rd Degree. Police working on the case have also expressed doubts about the conviction. Detective Dave Henwood has gone public.
Cases like that of Miss Burdett always put extreme pressure on the police, which increases the chance of a mistake being made. Pora's confession may seem pivotal to the conviction but when examined it means little. One of the must excruciating parts of an earlier investigative piece about his arrest and conviction was watching police having to point out the house where Miss Burdett lived because he didn't know.
The Crown successfully argued no one would confess to a crime he didn't do. Oh yes, they do. Most famously recently was the Memphis Three, the innocence project of director Peter Jackson - one of them confessed to murders he did not commit.
