David Tamihere shows emotion as he recounts sexual assault allegations

Tuesday, 29 August 2017

Swedish tourist Urban Hoglin who was killed while backpacking around New Zealand.

David Tamihere has returned to the court he was convicted in for the double murder of two Swedish tourists to give evidence against a jailhouse witness who claimed Tamihere confessed to the crime.

Tamihere, who served a 20-year jail term for the killings, showed emotion at the High Court in Auckland on Tuesday as he described details of the crimes he was accused and convicted of committing.

David Tamihere was convicted for the Swede's murder in 1990.

A man, known as 'Witness C', gave evidence at the 1990 trial that Tamihere had confessed to him in prison he had killed Urban Hoglin and Heidi Paakkonen after he sexually assaulted them, and then dumped their bodies at sea.

He also claimed Tamihere gave Hoglin's watch to his son – a crucial part of the Crown case against him.

Heidi Paakkonen pictured at the Auckland Zoo prior to her death.

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Witness C is accused of lying at the original trial and is now being tried for perjury.

Tears welled in Tamihere's eyes when he described how Witness C had accused him of repeatedly sexually assaulting Paakkonen.

'[Witness C] said I had met the Swedes, I had sexually assaulted the man, sexually assaulted the female. Tied the male to a tree. Sexually assaulted her,' he said.

Tamihere told the court he was very careful about speaking to other prisoners prior to his trial. He confirmed he had told inmates lies to see who he could trust, but never confessed to killing the Swedish couple.

'It is a known fact one of the things about jail there is always going to be somebody there who will try and use your situation to improve [their] own,' he said.

'To find out who they were I would tell people different things, nothing major . . . The idea being you sit back and see if it comes back at you, then I would know who is talking to the police.

'As for lying about killing the Swedes, or not killing the Swedes, it is a different matter altogether, I never went there.'

Tamihere said he and Witness C had been friendly, but never discussed details of his case.

He also denied telling people in prison he had killed the couple in order to muddy the waters of the police case.

'The conversation he said we had about it never happened.'

When asked by Witness C's lawyer Adam Simperingham if it was true 'snitches get stiches' in prison, Tamihere agreed.

'They are a little lower than child molesters,' Tamihere said.

Witness C was one of three jailhouse informants who gave evidence against Tamihere at trial. Each one gave a different account of how Tamihere had killed the Swedes.

Ten months after Tamihere's conviction, Hoglin's remains were discovered in the Coromandel by pig hunters about 70km from where the murders were alleged to have taken place. His watch was found with him.

'THE WATCH WAS ON THE BODY'

Tamihere's brother John earlier recounted the day Urban Hoglin's decomposing body was found, with his watch still on his wrist.

The former Labour Party politician told the court he headed to Whangamata with David Tamihere's lawyer as soon as he heard a body had been found.

'We parked at the pub, and walked about 2 kilometres up a farm track to where the police were excavating the deceased,' he said.

'We asked a number of questions, before the senior officers arrived and closed it down . . . The watch was on the body, and the body was fully clothed.'

John Tamihere said it was clear there was no trauma to Hoglin's body, casting doubt on the evidence from Witness C and the two other jailhouse informants.

'Why we asked that question was because the secret witness, particularly Witness C's evidence, was Mr Hoglin was killed by having a piece of wood strike his head.'

On Monday, the court heard how Witness C signed an affidavit compiled by John Tamihere in 1995 recanting his evidence. Witness C said in the affidavit police had paid him to give the false evidence.

He also wrote a letter to David Tamihere in 2007, again saying he lied during the trial.

'It was widely known in the prison population he is a nark,' John Tamihere said of Witness C, during cross-examination in court on Tuesday.

However, since his 2007 letter, Witness C has again changed his story, saying in fact he did tell the truth at the trial, and is defending the charge of perjury.

Witness C is being tried in the High Court in Auckland. Self-proclaimed jailhouse lawyer Arthur Taylor is behind the private prosecution and is being represented by lawyer Murray Gibson.

Witness C faces eight charges of perjury and one charge of obstruction of justice for giving false evidence.

He was granted name suppression in 1989, and has managed to retain suppression despite numerous appeals for his identity to be revealed.

Taylor has previously said he brought the prosecution to 'send a message' to other jailhouse 'snitches' that there would be consequences for lying.

Taylor alleged the man changed his story several times over the years, and also told people he had lied at trial.