22 Apr 2020

David Tamihere gets green light for fresh appeal

From Morning Report, 7:46 am on 22 April 2020

Convicted double murderer David Tamihere wants the Court of Appeal to give him a chance to clear his name in a retrial after he was granted a rare Royal Prerogative of Mercy.

Tamihere served twenty years in jail after being found guilty of murdering Swedish tourists Urban Hglin and Heidi Paakkonen in Coromandel in 1989.

He's always maintained his innocence and yesterday Justice Minister Andrew Little referred his case to the Court of Appeal - it will be able to either uphold the convictions, quash them or order a new trial.

David Tamihere told our court reporter Anneke Smith much of the evidence that led to him being found guilty has unravelled in the years since.