Stuff
May 26 2008

Call for inquiry after high-profile acquittals
NZPA

Defence lawyer Barry Hart says a Commission of Inquiry was needed into the police investigations of both the Chris Kahui case and that of George Gwaze.

On Thursday, a High Court jury in Auckland found Chris Kahui not guilty of murdering his baby twins Cru and Chris two years ago.

Mr Gwaze was found not guilty in the High Court in Christchurch on Wednesday last week of the sexual violation and murder of his niece.

The Crown Prosecution Service has referred the Gwaze case to the Solicitor-General.

Mr Hart said he agreed with both verdicts but that large sums of money were spent by the Crown in both cases and that there were problems with the police investigations.

He said it was important that an independent body looked at whether the investigations was carried out properly.

Mr Hart said in the Kahui case there was a long delay before charging, which said to him that police weren't sure at an early stage.

"It doesn't matter about public pressure and someone has to be arrested. There's huge public pressure but they shouldn't bow down to that," he told Radio New Zealand.

"If there's not enough evidence you just don't charge people. If you do then you've got to take the consequences and it needs to be looked at after the event so it doesn't happen again."

Mr Hart said if charges were to be laid they should have been against more than just Chris Kahui, whose lawyers argued the twins' mother Macsyna King could have been the killer.

He also suggested having private law firms appointed by the Solicitor-General as prosecutors was perhaps not the best method.

"Maybe it gets a bit blurred between their respective functions (the Crown and police)," he said.

"In England the director of public prosecutions is completely separate body that deals with prosecutions, not a private law firm."

Police Association vice-president Stuart Mills disagreed there were structural issues about the way prosecutions were brought and said there was no need for an inquiry.

"The public has to remember that in our current judicial system, acquittals do occur. In the case of Mr Kahui no applications to dismiss the charges were ever made," he told Radio New Zealand.

"The police are doing a very good job in trying circumstances. We need to make sure witnesses are co-operative with police as opposed to hiding at times family members who have committed a crime."

He said police had not decided to charge people for the sake of it and that medical evidence from highly regarded experts was important.

"Mr Hart says there was a long delay in the Kahui case. There was so they could actually assess all the information, but also the fact that the family were uncooperative throughout the investigation."

Mr Mills said crown solicitors being present at crime scenes right at the beginning was useful so they could observe the scene and relate that back when they went to trial.

He said it was unfair to blame police in the Gwaze case for not asking about the victim's Aids ailment.

"Police were using the experts available at the time and on that information they charged (Mr Gwaze).

"The investigation was conducted to a high standard. There was some additional medical evidence that came out at a very late stage."