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Focus on
Police Competence |
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Three teenage girls
convicted of a crime they did not commit will receive money for counselling
as part of their total compensation, Justice Minister Phil Goff says. He had received a
preliminary application for compensation for the three teenagers. "I have made an
initial decision that payment should be available for counselling of those
young women," he told a committee of MPs yesterday. "I think the state
of mind that they were left in after eight months imprisonment in Mount Eden
for a crime that they were found not to be responsible for by the police
means that we have to try to help them rebuild their lives." He has appointed Kristy
McDonald QC to advise him on compensation for the girls. She would determine the
degree of innocence and decide what level of compensation should be paid for
losses they suffered. A spokesman for Mr Goff
said the money for counselling would come out of the total compensation. Tania Vini, Lucy
Akatere, and McCushla Fuataha were wrongfully imprisoned in 1999 after they
were convicted of an aggravated robbery in Auckland. They were released when
an Auckland lawyer and a private investigator persuaded police to reopen
their case. The Court of Appeal
later overturned the conviction and offered the girls "sympathy". |
