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Focus on
Police Competence |
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Three young women
jailed for a crime they did not commit have rejected almost half a million
dollars in compensation and are challenging the way the Government reached
the figure. A claim filed in the
High Court at Auckland shows Lucy Akatere and Tania Vini were offered
$135,000 each and McCushla Fuataha was offered $137,500. The Government says
that, with other payments, they were offered more than $160,000 each. Their lawyer has
indicated the $1 million paid to Arthur Allan Thomas, wrongly convicted of
double murder, is a benchmark for compensation, but added the amount was for
the court to decide. Lucy Akatere, Tania
Vini and McCushla Fuataha served seven months in prison after being jointly
convicted of an aggravated robbery in Three Kings in August 1999. Ms Akatere was 15 at
the time and her co-accused were 14. The case was reopened
after a witness admitted she lied and the three were proven to have been
nowhere near the scene of the attack. The Court of Appeal
overturned the convictions in 2001 and told the girls: "We offer our
sympathy." The amount of
compensation offered by the Government last year was recommended by
Wellington QC Kristy McDonald, who was asked to apply Government criteria and
recommend the appropriate ex-gratia payment. Ms McDonald recommended
the amounts, a public statement of the trio's innocence and an apology by the
Crown. The women rejected the
offer and described it as "both seriously inadequate and unlawful".
They claim the
Government guidelines used to reach the compensation figure are
"unlawful, irrational and unfair" and that they were not correctly
applied in reaching the recommended amounts. The women want the
court to declare the recommendations unlawful and invalid, and quash them. Their lawyer, Gary
Gotlieb, said the Government had ignored opinions by three QCs - Rodney
Harrison, Richard Craddock and Bill Wilson - on behalf of the women. "The figure
offered in comparison to what happened to the girls was grossly understated. "Not only did the
girls have the seven-odd months in prison, they had all that terrible time
beforehand where they really lost their education and lost all their
opportunities that at that age you have. [They were] ostracised by fellow
students. It just makes you very sad." A spokesman for Justice
Minister Phil Goff said the total compensation for each woman of over
$160,000, including costs, was based on criteria established by the Cabinet. The Government would
vigorously defend the action in court.
David Dougherty was
awarded $868,728 compensation for wrongful imprisonment after being falsely
convicted of abducting and raping a child. DNA evidence subsequently proved
his innocence. Dougherty initially asked for $1.3 million. Arthur Allan Thomas
received nearly $1 million compensation on being pardoned in 1979 after twice
being convicted of the murders of Pukekawa couple Jeanette and Harvey Crewe.
Thomas spent nine years behind bars. |
