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National

Privy Council recommends no re-trial for Teina Pora

The Privy Council has recommended that Teina Pora not be re-tried for the rape and murder of Susan Burdett.

According to reports, the Crown New Zealand Office and Pora's legal team were notified of the recommendation this morning.

The Privy Council has recommended that Teina Pora not be retried for the rape and murder of Susan Burdett.

The Māori Party support the recommendation.  A member of the Māori Party believes Pora deserves compensation for spending over 20 years behind bars.

Marama Fox says, "I'm ecstatic.  The Māori Party has always backed him and his family.  I'm happy about today's news.  He has now got his life back.

Knowing that he's been behind bars for 21 years, he deserves compensation."

The London-based Privy Council quashed Mr Pora’s convictions earlier this month.

When the announcement was made regarding the issue, the Privy Council called for submissions over a four-week period from lawyers on whether a retrial should be held.

Pora was convicted of murdering Susan Burdett, a 39-year-old who was bludgeoned to death with a softball bat in her Papatoetoe home in 1992.

Mr Pora was found guilty of Ms Burdett's murder in 1994, aged only 17.  In 1999, his first conviction was quashed after DNA evidence from semen found at the murder scene, linked to serial rapist Malcolm Rewa, who was eventually convicted of the rape of 27 women, including Ms Burdett, but not for her murder.

In 2000, Pora was again found guilty of Ms Burdett's murder in a retrial but his appeal was dismissed.

Pora has always maintained his innocence and was released on parole in April last year.