, as it attempts to understand why crucial witness evidence was not given to the defence. The inquiry will be conducted by Nicolette Levy QC., after it acknowledged the “unacceptable truth” that an “unanswerable cause of miscarriage” had taken place. But those specialising in wrongful convictions say broader inquiries into the criminal justice system are needed.
“It is critically important that public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the prosecution process is maintained,” the solicitor-general, Una Jagose QC, said. “We’re seeing the same series of issues arising again and again,” said Tim McKinnel, an investigator who has worked on some of New Zealand’s most high-profile wrongful conviction cases, including Hall and, who was imprisoned for 21 years after being wrongfully convicted of murder, before his conviction was quashed by the privy council in 2015. “There is a real lack of interest in learning what errors have contributed to a wrongful conviction.
“There’s every reason to think that we have the same issues as other common law jurisdictions, and we have an Indigenous population that’s heavily over-incarcerated – that is reason to think that we may be worse than some other similar jurisdictions.”
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