Teina Pora

Teina Pora (born 1975) is a New Zealander who was wrongfully convicted of murdering a woman he had never met, named Susan Burdett, when he was aged 17; he served 20 years in Paremoremo prison from 1994, until he was paroled in 2014.

In 1992, 39-year-old Burdett was raped and murdered in her home in Papatoetoe, Auckland. She was repeatedly struck in the head with a softball bat. About a year later, Pora who was a Mongrel Mob prospect at the time, was arrested on other charges and, when he learned there was $20,000 reward for information, claimed he was there when the murder happened. He was interviewed for 14 hours without a lawyer present, and was later said to have a mental age of nine or 10 at the time of the crime due to foetal alcohol syndrome. The police and jury were unaware of this, and in 1994, he was convicted of rape and murder.

In 1999, Malcolm Rewa was found guilty of raping Susan Burdett on the night she died. Pora appealed his conviction, but in 2000, was found guilty for the crime a second time. After spending 20 years in prison, Pora was released on parole in April 2014.

However, he continued to maintain his innocence, and the convictions were quashed by the Privy Council in March 2015, notably being the last ruling rendered by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with respect to an appeal from the courts of New Zealand. He was awarded NZ$3,509,048 compensation and received a government apology for being wrongfully convicted of rape and murder.

In 2019, Malcolm Rewa was subsequently found guilty of Burdett's murder.