Convicted serial rapist Malcolm Rewa has appeared at the Auckland High Court this morning on trial for the third time for the murder of Susan Burdett.
Rewa appeared gaunt and hunched over during his appearance, moving slowly towards the dock with the aid of a tokotoko.
Burdett's body was found in her Papatoetoe home in 1992. She had been raped and suffered fatal injuries inflicted with a softball bat.
Rewa was tried twice for the murder. However, in both trials the jury was unable to reach a verdict.
In 1998, Rewa was sentenced to 22 years in prison with a minimum non-parole period for 24 incidences of rape committed between 1987-1996. He was sentenced to a further 14 years concurrently for the rape of Burdett.
However, Teina Pora was also found guilty of Burdett's rape along with her murder in 1994, aged only 17.
In 1999, Pora's rape conviction was quashed after DNA evidence from semen found at the murder scene was linked to Rewa.
The Privy Council quashed Pora's other convictions in 2015.
A jury to hear Rewa's retrial has been selected and comprises seven men and five women.
The trial is set to take four weeks.