Source: Radio New Zealand
David Tamihere pictured outside court in 2018. (File photo) RNZ
David Tamihere’s convictions have been quashed, 36 years after he was found guilty of murdering two Swedish backpackers, but what happens next and could he get compensation from the government?
In a decision released on Tuesday, the Supreme Court directed a retrial but said it was up to the Crown to decide whether one should be held.
The court found there was a fundamental error in Tamihere’s 1990 trial which made it unfair – and the Crown case had changed so “radically” since then that it had not actually been tested by a jury.
Swedish tourists Urban Höglin and Heidi Paakkonen were killed in the Coromandel in 1989. (File photo) Supplied
Tamihere was convicted of the murder of Urban Höglin, 23, and Heidi Paakkonen, 21, in 1990. The couple was last seen in Thames in April 1989 and Höglin’s body was found in 1991. Paakkonen’s body has never been found.
If the Crown decided not to pursue a retrial for Tamihere, who was now in his 70s, he would be eligible to apply for compensation for wrongful imprisonment.
The decision on whether to hold a retrial rested with Auckland Crown solicitor Alysha McClintock.
She said told RNZ on Tuesday that there was now a process to follow.
“It will consider many factors, focussed on what available and admissible evidence remains to meet the Solicitor-General’s prosecution guidelines test and – if there is sufficient evidence – where the public interest now lies,” she said.
According to the Ministry of Justice, a person would be eligible for compensation if their convictions had been quashed and criminal proceedings had finished and they had been imprisoned for all or part of a sentence for that conviction.
Payment of compensation was at the discretion of the government and Cabinet had to be satisfied a person was innocent on the balance of probabilities along with suffering losses that could be compensated and compensation being in the interests of justice.
Tamihere spent 20 years in prison, so if he was eligible for compensation, he could receive an annual amount of $150,000 for each year in prison, an annual amount of up to $100,000 for loss of income for each year, an additional $75,000 a year for time on restrictive bail or parole, up to $50,000 to re-adjust to living in the community, an amount for costs incurred when challenging conviction and an amount for large financial losses between $50,000 and $250,000.
This could mean upwards of $3 million in Tamihere’s case.
The government could also decide to make a public apology or statement of innocence, the Ministry of Justice website said.
If an application for compensation was made, Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith would decide whether the application would be further assessed.
That assessment would focus on whether the person was innocent on the balance of probabilities, whether it was in the interests of justice to pay compensation and how much should be paid.
The minister could also seek independent legal advice on any aspect the application.
Tamihere’s case would be called in the High Court at Auckland on 13 May.
The Crown Law Office said it was likely a decision would have been reached by then but the court date would be pushed back if it had not.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
