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Focus on
Police Competence |
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Three young women
wrongly jailed for a brutal robbery have given up their fight for more
compensation and have decided to accept a government offer made several years
ago. Lucy Akatere, Tania
Vini and McCushla Fuataha will be paid more than $130,000 each after their
convictions for a brutal robbery were quashed. It's the end of a seven
year ordeal for the women, nine months of which they were locked up. "We've waited for
six or seven years now...we've just given up, we can't wait anymore,"
Vini says. The trio were sent to
jail when they were in their mid-teens for what was described as a sadistic
slashing. A 16-year-old at an
Auckland shopping mall was brutally beaten and robbed of $10 in 1999.
But when a witness admitted she had lied and the teenagers were found to be
nowhere near the scene, the convictions were quashed. Three years ago they
were offered $130,000 each in compensation. On legal advice they sought
more at the high court, but lost their case. "It has never been
about the money...it's how we've been treated," Akatere says. Their lawyer Gary
Gotlieb says compensation standards in New Zealand are inconsistent. "Someone that gets
locked up overnight by mistake - this Thai woman got $5,000 for a few hours
in custody - these girls get this for ruining their lives, their
education...nine months in custody being ostracised," he says. The three young mums
are all desperate for a fresh start. "I have no
qualifications because of that, so I've got to start all over again,"
Vini says. |
