Stephen Stone’s recent acquittal for rape and murder after 26 years in prison is the latest case to highlight a need for changes to our justice system, says private investigator and advocate Tim McKinnel. He talks to Cushla Norman about his deep involvement in a long list of such cases, and his frustration with what he sees as the state’s reluctance to make necessary changes.
“The state is incredibly reluctant to admit when it gets it wrong.” Watch Tim McKinnel’s interview with Cushla Norman on TVNZ+.
A private investigator who has helped expose some of New Zealand’s most prominent miscarriages of justice says there are more cases to come, but he believes the state shows no interest in looking back and learning from its mistakes.
Tim McKinnel, has played a role in getting justice for Teina Pora, Alan Hall, Gail Maney and Stephen Stone. He said vulnerability is a common theme.
“People who are privileged don’t tend to get wrongfully convicted in big cases.”
Stephen Stone’s case is the latest in a long list of wrongful convictions tackled by Tim McKinnel. (Source: TVNZ)
Teina Pora had his convictions for murdering and raping Susan Burdett quashed in 2016. In 2023, Alan Hall had his convictions for murdering Arthur Easton quashed. Stone was acquitted last week after being locked up for 26 years for double murder. Seven months prior, his co-defendant Maney was acquitted. She spent 15 years behind bars. A failure by the police to disclose crucial documents was at the heart of the Stone-Maney miscarriage of justice.
“There is very little interest in learning from these cases, and I find that infuriating,” said Tim McKinnel.
“We need to do something more substantive with these cases, and the state needs to take responsibility. There are more to come of these cases, and I don’t know how many it will take before a politician decides to do something about it.”
But the justice minister Paul Goldsmith wouldn’t commit to doing anything more substantive, when asked. Nor would he open a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Maney-Stone miscarriage of justice case, which their legal team has called for.
“I think the justice system clearly always needs to reflect on history and look for ways to improve on things. And we’ve obviously got a very busy justice agenda in this government around restoring law and order, and there’s a lot of work to do in that space and that’s my particular priority,” said Paul Goldsmith.
Both Pora and Hall received multi-million dollar payouts, while Maney and Stone plan to apply for compensation. Tim McKinnel says nothing can repair the damage.
“You can’t give them the years back. You can’t repair the relationships that have been destroyed from these cases.”
‘I don’t think I’m ready for a phone just yet’
He remembers speaking to Stone on the first day he was released.
“He called me on his first day out, and I asked him whether he’s going to get a phone so we’d be in contact. And he was, he was struggling to use the salt and pepper shaker, and he said, so I don’t think I’m ready for a phone just yet.”
International studies vary considerably on the incidence of miscarriages of justice from about one to five percent. Tim McKinnel thinks New Zealand is probably at the lower end of that scale.
“So, if you think about at the moment, we have a prison population of around 10,000 people. If two percent of those in prison are innocent, that’s a substantial number of people. That’s dozens and dozens of innocent people in prison.”
Potentially wrongful convictions referred at glacial pace
In 2006, a retired High Court judge Sir Thomas Thorp estimated there were up to 20 people wrongly in jail, that was 0.27% of the prison population at the time, and based on an extrapolation of UK statistics.
He called for an independent body to examine miscarriages of justice, and in 2020 the Criminal Cases Review Commission was established. It’s meant to make it easier for prisoners to make an application.
Previously, they would have to petition the Governor-General to invoke a Royal prerogative of mercy based on advice from the Justice Ministry. But this mechanism failed to attract applications from those disproportionately represented in the justice system.
The proportion of Royal prerogative of mercy applications from Māori and Pacific communities ranged from six to 16%. But the Commission’s statistics show that 44% of its applications are from Māori or Pasifika people.
In the past five years since it started, the Commission has had 515 applications – an average of nine a month. The majority are cases from the past five years.
Out of those 515 applications, 281 were declined – the majority because they were “not in the interests of justice.” So far, three cases have been referred to the appeal court.
“The fact that that a commission of 20 to 30 people is referring maybe one case a year tells you how difficult the work is,” said McKinnel.
“The state is incredibly reluctant to admit when it gets it wrong.” Watch Tim McKinnel’s interview with Cushla Norman on TVNZ+.
