|
|
Focus on
Police Competence |
|
The wrongful jailing of
three girls must be investigated by a government commission of inquiry, the
former police superintendent who helped free the girls says. Bryan Rowe, now a
private investigator, said yesterday that everything that could have gone
wrong with the case did and he had serious concerns about the police
investigation, how it was prosecuted and how the judge handled aspects of the
trial. The girls' case was just the tip of the iceberg. Teangarua
"Lucy" Akatere and Tania Mayze Vini, both 17, and McCushla
"Krishla" Priscilla Fuataha, 16, had their joint conviction for
aggravated robbery quashed by the Court of Appeal at Auckland on Tuesday.
They spent seven months in prison and are seeking hundreds of thousands of
dollars in compensation. The Crown's main
witness, a 13-year-old girl, retracted her evidence by affidavit after their
conviction. She claimed she and the
three older girls committed a 1999 attack on a 16-year-old schoolgirl at
Three Kings Plaza in Mt Roskill, Auckland. The schoolgirl was thumped and
kicked, her head was banged against a tree stump, she was cut with scissors
and robbed of $10. Police have appointed
Inspector Rob Marshall to investigate how the case was handled. Mr Rowe said it
appeared that, from the start, police investigating the case focused on the
girls despite a lack of evidence. The schoolgirl had
described being attacked by five older Polynesian girls, whereas the
13-year-old girl said only the four were involved. The five described by the
schoolgirl were taller than the three girls. Other witnesses
reported seeing the three girls at the plaza, but Mr Rowe said that was the
week before the attack. A witness said one of
the girls had a nose stud, but none of the three had ever had a pierced nose.
Mr Rowe said the
13-year-old who made the false confession did so after allegedly being told that
the three other girls had admitted the crime and implicated her. The girls' wrongful
conviction was not an isolated case and a commission of inquiry could help
tackle problems with the justice system, Mr Rowe said. A spokesman for Justice
Minister Phil Goff said a commission of inquiry could be initiated only by
the minister responsible for the portfolio an issue arose from. In this case,
Mr Rowe would have to approach Police Minister George Hawkins. |
