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Focus on Police
Competence |
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A father who would not give up, is
being credited with helping to clear the name of the daughter he had faith in
and her two friends. Cushla Fuataha, Lucy Akatere and
Tania Vini have received compensation of between $162,000 and $176,000 each
for being wrongly convicted and imprisoned in August 1999 for a street
robbery in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill. They served eight months in prison
but were acquitted in 2001, when a witness admitted she had lied. It was then
proven that the teenagers were not at the scene. The women decided to fight for
more compensation than the Government's recommendation of an official
statement confirming their innocence and compensation of $130,000 for Ms Vini
and Ms Akatere and $137,500 for Ms Fuataha. An ex gratia payment was also
offered on the condition that no further action was taken against the Crown,
but rejected by the teenagers. Private Investigator Bryan Rowe
says if it had not been for Tania Vini's father, the women would forever be
thought of as criminals. Mr Rowe says Mr Vini hired a lawyer and several
private investigators to probe the bungled police inquiry and paid a high
emotional and financial cost, with the strain being so great after the
convictions that he could not work for around three months. Mr Rowe says the police case was
so sloppy it was not hard to prove officers had got it wrong. He says the
system has taken too long to acknowledge the mistake. Justice Minister Mark Burton has
announced that Ms Fuataha will receive $165,330, Ms Vini $176,621.36 and Ms
Akatere will receive $162,830.36. |
