$2 million for 21 years
-
Was 17 when put away...I don't expect his career prospects would be high anyway now, which makes a salary option far better for him. <br><br>
Apparently Arthur Alan Thomas was compensated for half the time and in today's money the equivalent of $4mill. -
<p>I've only got a limited amount of sympathy for Teina Pora who was, somewhat, the architect of his own demise. Scamming a police reward - not a bright idea!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Arthur Allan Thomas was pretty much guilty only of taking Jeanette Crewe on a date many years previously and being too helpful to some crooked police.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Chris B." data-cid="588207" data-time="1465961447">
<div>
<p><strong>I've only got a limited amount of sympathy for Teina Pora who was, somewhat, the architect of his own demise. Scamming a police reward - not a bright idea!</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Arthur Allan Thomas was pretty much guilty only of taking Jeanette Crewe on a date many years previously and being too helpful to some crooked police.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Oh my god. Seriously? He was 17 years old, dirt poor, with the mental age of someone much younger due to Alcohol Fetal Syndrome. He had a toddler daughter who he was attempting to do the right thing by. Teenagers are pretty damn clueless to start with, but this guy had no chance.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The police should have told him to get on his bike and piss off cos he was wasting their time. Instead they stole <strong>21 years</strong> of his life with a false conviction based on NO evidence.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Mokey" data-cid="588218" data-time="1465963168">
<div>
<p> </p>
<p>The police should have told him to get on his bike and piss off cos he was wasting their time. Instead they stole <strong>21 years</strong> of his life with a false conviction based on NO evidence.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>It wasn't the police who convicted him.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Chris B." data-cid="588223" data-time="1465963581">
<div>
<p>It wasn't the police who convicted him.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>I don't know why people are mentioning the police, it's not like they had anything to do with securing an unsafe conviction based on the statement he provided to them.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="antipodean" data-cid="588228" data-time="1465965717">
<div>
<p>I don't know why people are mentioning the police, it's not like they had anything to do with securing an unsafe conviction based on the statement he provided to them.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Yes - he also had lawyers and two trials - and was the one making the statement.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It is tough luck that he had such shit parents, but it's hard to make the case that he was torn from the path of the righteous. Convicted for a crime he didn't commit, but by all accounts committed plenty of crimes that he wasn't convicted for.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He was a ratbag who I have limited sympathy for.</p> -
<p>He might have been a ratbag, but plenty of 17 year olds make mistakes. They just don't give up 21 years of their life for a crime they didn't commit.</p>
-
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="antipodean" data-cid="588228" data-time="1465965717">
<div>
<p>I don't know why people are mentioning the police, it's not like they had anything to do with securing an unsafe conviction based on the statement he provided to them.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>Judging by this video footage, I'd say the police are not blameless in this travesty of justice</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/81085437/teina-pora-this-cannot-happen-again'>http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/81085437/teina-pora-this-cannot-happen-again</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>They may not be the most responsible group for his incarceration but if their contribution to it all is best practice then it reflects poorly on the organisation charged with protecting citizens</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="MN5" data-cid="588248" data-time="1465971564">
<div>
<p>I do get what Chris B is getting at in a sense but trying to scam a bit of cash doesn't equate to all those years lost that's for sure.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>With fairly limited following of the case, it doesn't seem like the police deliberately tried to set him up. He helped do that himself. He also had his extended family in on the act, testifying various things to support the police case.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I obviously haven't seen the videos, but from the testimony, I can see why the police might have been interested. Here's the Wiki summary - much more from various angles on the internet.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teina_Pora'>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teina_Pora</a></p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="antipodean" data-cid="588228" data-time="1465965717"><p>I don't know why people are mentioning the police, it's not like they had anything to do with securing an unsafe conviction based on the statement he provided to them.</p></blockquote>
<br>
If you look into the details of the case it was various police practices, omissions, inactions and tunnel vision that formed a foundation of evidence to present and argue to the court. <br>
At he same time the police made major mistakes in handling complaints about Malcolm Rewa, which if that had dealt with adequately would have put him firmly in the picture for Susan Burdetts murder. <br>
The whole reason the conviction was declared unsafe was that the police ignored the real evidence and witness statements around them to focus on a naive teenager making contradictory confessions in an attempt to get a reward. Then they withheld those statements from the courts to secure a conviction. <br>
Once convicted it was an extremely long journey to prove otherwise because of the legal system. <br>
Pora was sadly in a logic loop. Rewa wasn't convicted of the murder because Pora was already convicted and the story was different. Pora couldn't get 'unconvicted' because Rewa hadn't been done for it. <br>
It was a complete clusterfuck. <br>
The best result would be a retrial that formally acquits Pora followed by a conviction for Rewa but only the crown can instigate that and they won't. Instead Pora still carries the burden of simply being an unsafe conviction and Burdetts family (who support Pora) can't get justice either. -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Siam" data-cid="588241" data-time="1465969131">
<div>
<p>Judging by this video footage, I'd say the police are not blameless in this travesty of justice</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Crucial" data-cid="588261" data-time="1465973907">
<div>
<p>If you look into the details of the case it was various police practices, omissions, inactions and tunnel vision that formed a foundation of evidence to present and argue to the court.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p>I was being sarcastic.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="antipodean" data-cid="588237" data-time="1465967933">
<div>
<p>He might have been a ratbag, but plenty of 17 year olds make mistakes. They just don't give up 21 years of their life for a crime they didn't commit.</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<p>The extent to which the police stitched this guy up is frightening. What happens to the officers involved?</p>
