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Focus on
Police Competence |
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Auckland: Three young
women wrongfully convicted and jailed want the High Court at Auckland to
quash a compensation package worth almost $500,000 and order the Government
to make a new offer. 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 coaccused 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.” A report prepared for
the Government by Wellington QC Kristy McDonald in 2003 recommended that it
pay Ms Akatere and Ms Vini $135,000 each and Ms Fuataha $137,500. The Government has said
that, with other payments, the trio was offered more than $160,000 each. The women are
challenging the Government guidelines used to reach compensation figures. Rodney Harrison, QC,
yesterday told the court the guidelines were unworkable, inconsistent and
arbitrary. “It is our case that sense cannot be made [of the guidelines],” he
said. Dr Harrison said for
periods of wrongful imprisonment of less than a year, the daily compensation
figure worked out to be $143. In his experience, compensation for a wrongful
arrest and one day in custody would be $10,000-$15,000. The hearing continues
today. |
