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Three teenage girls who
walked free from court yesterday after the conviction that sent them to
prison last year was overturned will seek compensation, their lawyer says. Teangarua Lucy Akatere,
17, Tania Mayze Vini, 17, and Krishla Priscilla Fuataha, 16, were jailed last
year for what a judge described as a "sadistic" slashing. The three had their
convictions quashed by the Court of Appeal in Auckland yesterday after eight
months in prison for aggravated robbery. They were convicted on
the evidence of a 13-year-old who police now say was unreliable. She has
given several versions of the attack which left a 16-year-old schoolgirl cut
and bruised. The schoolgirl was
attacked near the Three Kings Mall in Auckland in August 1999. She was
repeatedly slashed with a pair of scissors, kicked and thumped and robbed of
$10. After Justices
Robertson, Gault and Salmon overturned the conviction, which was not opposed
by police, the girls' lawyer, Gary Gotlieb, said they would seek
compensation. They did not commit the
crime and were wrongfully convicted, Mr Gotlieb said. Ms Fuataha was
sentenced to two years' jail, the other two to 18 months. Police had tunnel
vision and it was often the case that police believed they had the offender
and then found the facts to fit the crime, he said. The issue of compensation
had yet to be decided but it would be sought and the girls would be offered
victim support. "We are not even going to think about it for some time.
We are just going to get these girls sorted out, that is the main
thing." Despite the
"terrible injustice" that had been done, yesterday's ruling had
shown the system could right itself, Mr Gotlieb said. Justice Gault said:
"The investigation and trial system failed in this case." The court said the
wrong conviction raised questions about the conduct of the police, which must
be investigated. "Three young persons have been let down by the system."
Crown prosecutor Kieran
Raftery told the Court of Appeal the convictions were unsafe and a retrial
would not be sought. The court was told that after the original trial an
affidavit was produced by a principal witness retracting the original evidence.
Facts were also
produced proving the three girls were not near the scene of the attack. Much
of the new evidence was not fresh and could have been obtained with
reasonable diligence before the trial, the judges said. "They (the girls) have
been subjected to the demeaning experience of a public trial and the constant
rejection of their protestations of innocence," Justice Gault said.
"We offer our sympathy to them." Outside the court the
girls said the ruling was "sensational". Ms Vini said: "I
am happy it is over now after so long." Ms Fuataha said: "Spending
time in jail hurt." The girls said it was
disgusting that an alleged co-offender lied at the original trial. "I
don't know how they could do that for $10," Ms Vini said. An internal police
inquiry has found that the evidence that led to the wrongful conviction and
jailing of the girls was unsafe and unreliable. However, police have
yet to decide if it was a police error that led to the three girls spending
time in prison on the evidence from a 13-year-old. The 13-year-old was too
young to be charged but has been dealt with under the provisions of the
Children, Young Persons and their Families Act. Detective Senior
Sergeant Stu Allsopp-Smith, who was in charge of the investigation, said
yesterday that though his inquiry was incomplete, he was satisfied the
evidence of the 13-year-old was unreliable. She had admitted that
her evidence at the trial and an earlier depositions hearing was false, he
said. -- NZPA -------------------- CAPTION: NZ Herald - Wrongly
convicted teenagers, from left, Ms Fuataha, Ms Vini and Ms Akatere, leave the
court with their lawyer Mr Gotleib |
