Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 Kia ora, good evening. Tonight, our first show of the year, and it's a big one ` the very first interview with Teina Pora. Now, remember he was convicted of rape and murder 21 years ago. But this year the Privy Council quashed those convictions and announced there won't be a retrial. Our team have led the way on this story. Reporter Paula Penfold and producer Eugene Bingham have effectively been campaigning for Teina's release for years. And now finally he's free to tell his own story in his own words. What's it like being a free man? > There's so many things I can say or describe of being a free man, but for it's just... something that I waited for for a long time. And I'm bloody enjoying it and having fun. MELLOW ROCK MUSIC When you've been locked up for 22 years, the sensation of the ocean is the epitome of freedom. Teina Pora swims whenever he can, even in May. The waves, man, it's just... it reminds of, uh,... hearing the doors get locked... in prison. But it's a good thing. I don't have to hear doors. All I can hear is just the waves. I just love the water. I love the beach. When I heard there was no retrial, it's the first time that I just broke down and cried in the car, so I ended up going down to the beach, me and my dog. Just the weight just went out through the soles of my feet, went into the ocean and... and life just started again for me. 22 years you haven't been able to say what you wanted to say, but you can now. Why is that you want to do this interview with us? I just wanna... let everybody know that I'm a normal person. When Teina Pora went to prison, there was no Sky Tower; he'd never used a cell phone. The world as it is today is a wondrous place to him. But even before he went inside, he hadn't seen much, so we decided to take him out of the city to somewhere he's never been. There are so many firsts to reclaim in the life that had been stolen from him. How do you cope in prison for so long when you know you're an innocent man? > Oh, it wasn't easy. You know? You had inmates calling you a murderer, calling you a rapist. How did you take that? Oh, I didn't take it lightly, you know. Just always stood up for myself, and whether it got into a fight, regardless of whether I won or lost, but it was something that I made a` not made a statement, but I stood up and told, you know, 'I ain't that person, man. 'I'm` I'm an innocent man of a crime that I never committed.' You were telling other inmates that` Yeah. ...when they were accusing you of`? But, you know, it's hard to say that when you're living in there for 22 years, you know? And you're living with the most notorious criminals in NZ. Did you have many visitors? (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) Nah, not the first 10 years. You've said to me before that you were angry for the first 10 years. for them putting me in a place that I shouldn't have even been in. I was just angry at the system, angry at everybody. Did you feel like there was anything you could do about it? I was hopeless. I had nothing. No one cared. It was like nobody cared about me. MELLOW ROCK MUSIC The turning point in terms of Teina's anger came when he was baptised by a fellow inmate ` a pastor in prison. He just gave me this little pocket Bible, which I still have till this day, and it's at home, put it in my box, and that's where my reading began. With the Bible? With the Bible. I don't care what anybody says... How many times have you read the Bible through? I guess I've probably read it about... say, about 30 or 40 times from the front to the back. What's your favourite part? Um, I'd probably say probably chapter three, verse five and six ` 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding, 'and acknowledge him in all your ways, and He will direct your path.' And that was the first ever ever scripture that I... when he gave me the Bible, that I ever opened. And that's where my reading and my ability to talk to people` If I ever sat here and talked to you, I'd be swearing at you and going, 'What the f... are you looking at?' You know? That was me back then. Mm. And look at you now. > Yeah. You became eligible for parole in 2000, a long time ago, but... you wouldn't admit to the crime,... (CHUCKLES HUMOURLESSLY) right? Yeah. Which is what kept you inside. > Yeah. Wouldn't it have been easier just to say, 'Yeah, I did it. Let me out now'? I could've done that. But it was never in my heart to do that,... because it` Because? > Because I was an innocent man. So the rumour's going around ` I heard you wanted to, um, outbake me, did ya? < That's facts! (LAUGHS) Eh? That's facts, Dad. Wow. It's father vs daughter ` Teina and Channelle butting heads like they're in a TV cooking show. Did you put 200g in there? Yep. Are you sure? Yes. Positive. I know you working like a chef sort of thing, but... (CHUCKLES) this is prison styles, man. Teina is teaching Channelle his banana cake recipe, but given he was in prison for 22 of her 24 years, there's a lot she's had to learn for herself. This is a trick. I'll show you a trick, Dad. Oh yep. You sure you're not gonna burn the cake? Nah. It's actually gonna make it slide straight out of the container. You had a baby girl really young, hey? Channelle. > Yeah. How old were you? I was 14, and` and` and her mum was, uh, 15. Channelle is a wonderful daughter. She's a wonderful young woman, isn't she? Oh man, yeah. Oh yeah. Adjusting to life with his daughter and grandson is one thing when you've spent most of your life in prison,... Yeah, but make sure it's level first. It is. You know, you gotta make sure it's even. It is, Dad. (LAUGHS) That's why we're not gonna work together as a chef. ...add to the complicated mix, Teina's upbringing was tough too. His mother died of cancer when he was just 5. And by age 13, he'd dropped out of school, turning to crime, becoming a prolific car thief. Which is why he wound up in the Otahuhu Police Station in March 1993, almost a year to the day after Susan Burdett had been raped and murdered in her South Auckland home. ...to say anything, but anything you do say will be recorded and may be shown in evidence. I'm Detective Sergeant Williams. 'I sort of raised the matter to them about Susan Burdett.' Did you tell them that you had some information about it? > Um,... yeah, pretty much. Yes. Why did you say that? Do you know? Um,... you know, I was only young at the time, and I was just trying to find a way out. Yeah. It just got to the point where I just... fell deeper and deeper into what I was telling them. You knew there was a reward for information? Yes. Yeah. $20,000. > Yeah. It would've seemed` Well, it is a lot of money. Is that what you were trying to do? At the time` At the time back then I was, yeah. I was trying to see I can get a reward money or something like that, you know. But, uh, the experience never paid off. You've gotten to Pah Rd ` are you still following this woman? What made you come to that conclusion? Can you describe the room when you closed the door? You've seen these tapes over and over now. We fought to broadcast them for the first time because they were the central element of the Crown case against Teina Pora. Five days they held you in the police station. Do you remember much of it? > Pretty much everything. What happened in that interviews and off the record before we went into those interviews, you know, and... and the first day was pretty much, um, getting hounded by full-grown police officers, uh,... uh, just... just being one` one was being good and one was being a bad cop, and,... you know, just getting woken up all hours of the night in the cells, and, you know, just pulling me in and out, and... that just when on for about four or five days, and I... just couldn't take it any more. And... And I just... sort of took responsibility and confessed to it. You started giving them information early on, didn't you? Even on the first day. Did you think...? What were you thinking? I guess before` before I started, I think, me and Mark Williams, we were in, uh` in one of these holding cells before actually everything started. and I just pounced on everything that was coming out of his mouth and I just went with it. MATCH CRACKLES but in doing so, he had implicated himself, and the police told him he was to be charged with rape and murder. You knew you were in really really big trouble then. Oh, it was like I was in the pit of hell, man. In a pit that I couldn't get out. At his trial, he protested his innocence, but he was convicted. And then DNA from the crime scene was identified as belonging to serial rapist Malcolm Rewa, giving Teina an opportunity for a retrial. But the Crown then argued he and Malcolm Rewa were accomplices, and Teina was found guilty of rape and murder again. On the verdict of murder, you are convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. So let's get this on the record for the first time. Mm. Do you know each other? Did you know Malcolm Rewa? I never ever met the man from a bar of soap, man, and I don't even know him. Did you ever hang out with him? Never once. Never in my life. I know who he is now, because they showed his face on TV and all that, but I've never ever hanged out with Malcolm Rewa. Did you go with him to commit that crime without knowing him? No, not at all. Where you there at all? No. A new legal team took up his case, an in March this year, finally, Teina Pora's convictions were quashed by the Privy Council. And now we know through neuropsychological evidence that Teina has foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. At the time of the police interviews, he was estimated to be functioning at the level of a 8- to 10-year-old. To observe him now day to day, you'd often think there's nothing wrong with him. He's active, he's engaging, and he's funny. But signs of the damage done to his brain when his mother drank during pregnancy are frequently there, including that he's unclear about how his diagnosis matters to his case. Do you understand why? Mm, not really there, Paula, but... Legally? > Yeah. Well, it meant that, you know, what happened in the police station all those years ago, that 'confession' couldn't be relied on, because you weren't in a position to be making it. And so they had to throw it out, essentially, which makes you a free man. So that's how it was important. > Oh, yeah. Yeah. This home is costing at least twice as much to heat... UPBEAT MUSIC This room is properly insulated, and it's at a temperature of 20 degrees. And this one's the same size. It's also properly insulated, and the temperature is 20 degrees. So what's the difference? This home is costing at least twice as much to heat... as this one. And it's all down to the choice of heating. Traditional heaters like this can warm a room, but you use a lot of electricity doing it, while energy-efficient heating systems like Energy Star flued gas heaters, modern wood burners, wood pallet burners and Energy Star heat pumps produce heat more efficiently and cost less to run. Go to energywise.govt.nz for advice on choosing an efficient heating system. Here's a tip ` if you do use electric heaters, make use of the timer and thermostat features. Heating is about a third of your energy bill. Energy-efficient heating helps to give you a warmer, drier, healthier home. That means we're all using less energy too. See you next time. the very first interview with Teina Pora. MELLOW ROCK MUSIC BIRDSONG It's a relief that there are good people in Teina's life ` those who got him out of prison in the first place and those who are guiding him now. It's a relief because, without them, he would be completely on his own. Once everything got squashed and all that, it was pretty much, 'Do your own thing.' Do your own thing. They've just... Sort of... You're on your own now. They` They took their hand off. What do you think of that? Are you OK with the fact that the system that kept you incarcerated for 22 years has kind of dropped you now? You know,.. (STAMMERS) I appreciate the things they've done to a certain point where they got me. Once everything was over, they sort of just` they didn't really give a f... who I was anyway. They just... dropped everything and let me go out on my own. And fend for yourself. Yep. Thank you for this wonderful occasion that we had for the last two to three days since we've been here and, uh... Teina decides he wants to say a few words, because something momentous is about to happen. Father, we just ask that you guide our path and our steps as we go meet a special person that` that we can bring peace and rest for him and his family too. Today Teina will meet, for the very first time, someone who's supported him from afar, and whose belief in his innocence may be surprising, given who he is. It should never be forgotten that Susan Burdett is the woman who's at the very heart of this case, the woman Teina was accused of murdering, and for whom there's never been justice. Jim Burdett is her brother. Nice to meet you, Jim. Kia ora. MELLOW ROCK MUSIC Shall we sit down? Yeah. First and foremost, you know, Jim,... I'd just like to thank you for believing in my innocence. And if there's anything that I can help the courts bring justice and rest for your family, I'd be willing to help youse out with that. I really appreciate that. I mean, I` I guess,... at first, I assumed you were guilty, but I knew` I knew it was never the whole story. I always knew that. And... the story didn't make sense. Mm. And I know what you mean about justice. You know, you didn't do it. Somebody did. So we need to find out who that is. We let them continue their conversation in private, and afterwards Teina tells us it's the best thing he's ever done. Hi, Terry, my name is Paula. 'There are other reconciliations needed ` 'an aunt whose testimony helped put him inside in the first place...' How much were you paid to give evidence at that first trial? I'm not going to talk to you about that. It was $5000, wasn't it? Well, that's up to you. '...and a cousin who also gave evidence for the Crown.' I have no idea. I don't what I think any more. Have they apologised? > Never once. Never once? > Nah. But I have. What do you mean? I just went straight up to them and said to them, 'Man, I still love youse. I forgive youse. 'No matter what happens, you know, that's where the b` that's where the borderline stops, right there.' You've forgiven them? Yeah, you know,... that put me at peace and... took a lot of weight off me, and whatever... Even if they didn't apologise or whatever, then so be it, Are you angry towards the police, uh, and the justice system for what happened to you? I think they're pricks. That's` That's my honestly answer. You know,... they're` they're supposed to be their own, uh` a higher power than anybody else ` to serve and protect the public and` and innocent people, you know? But to lock away a man for something he didn't do and to let him go through hell and go through the shit that I had to live with? And they sit at home` go home and feed their kids while my daughter and I'm suffering. You know? To me that was` you know, I'm not a person that shows much emotion or crying or anything, but it eats me up inside when they do sort of shit like that. Do you think that you deserve compensation for what you went through? I deserve compensation. For me, it's not about the compensation. I want an apology ` a state apology from them. Why does the apology matter to you? Well, so I can rest. If they apologise, you could move on? Yeah, I can move on. Will money make up for... the two decades that you lost? No, most definitely not. But will it help? It would help the cause of, um,... you know, for my daughter and my grandson to live a good life. MELLOW ROCK MUSIC Was there a moment, Teina, when you realised that you would one day be a free man? Um... There's always hope, eh. There was hope ` always hope for me. It is hard to fathom how he never gave up, and it's impossible to fathom what he missed out on. So Teina Pora's plans for the rest of his own life are beautifully simple. What do you want for your future, Teina? Just to live a normal life with my daughter and my grandson, and just to travel, go and see places I've never been. Go and have fun, man. Live a life. Go and have fun and live life to the fullest, man. He does seem at peace, doesn't he? And as you heard him say there, for him it's not about compensation ` he wants an apology. Yeah, and he totally deserves an apology as well. It's overdue. The problem is ` to live life at all or let alone to the fullest, you need money. And Teina, he's getting some labouring work, but basically, I think it's fair to say, he's on the bones of his arse. A bid for compensation has been made by his lawyers. But we all know it's going to be months if not years before that's decided, so in the meantime, a trust has been set up to help him get a place to rent and some basic necessities. And if you like, you can donate via Give a Little or online baking. The details, they're all on our website... And one click there will take you to the Teina Pora Whanau Trust page on Give a Little. And, look, rest assured, if Teina does get government compensation, a donation will be made from the funds raised by you to his chosen charity, which is the Fetal Alcohol Care Action Network. All right, it's been a pleasure to have your company. That's 3D for this week. We're back next Sunday at 6.30 after the news. We'll see you then. Captions by Ingrid Lauder. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015