Police criticised over Kahui murder investigation

The way police handled some evidence in the Chris and Cru Kahui murder case was not up to standard, the Independent Police Complaints Authority (IPCA) has found.

The South Auckland twins died in Auckland's Starship Hospital in June 2006 after being admitted with head injuries.

Their father, Chris Kahui, was acquitted of murdering them in 2008, after the jury deliberated for only one minute.

His defence was that the twins' mother, Macsyna King, was the killer but she had never been charged.

Following the trial, lawyers for Mr Kahui complained to the IPCA regarding two pieces of evidence they said were not documented or disclosed properly.

A decision released by the IPCA today cleared police of deliberately withholding or delaying the release of evidence.

"There is no evidence that the police officers responsible for the preparation of the Crown case and disclosure conspired or otherwise deliberately tried to pervert the course of justice by disclosing incomplete information relevance to Mr Kahui's defence; or by making late disclosure," the decision said.

However, the IPCA criticised the officers' documentation and disclosure of evidence.

In regards to a complaint about a phone conversation between a detective and a witness on March 1, 2007, the IPCA said: "At the very least the fact that this conversation occurred and any related documentation, should have been disclosed to the defence soon after 1 March 2007.

"The failure of police to document this conversation and to complete disclosure is not in accordance with the standard of policing expected in such a significant and high profile murder investigation," the decision read.

In regards to a complaint involving another witness, the IPCA said it accepted police were working under considerable pressure at the time, but that the evidence should have been disclosed in a timely way.

"The late disclosure put the defence under unreasonable pressure, and constituted an error of judgement on the part of the officers concerned."

Mr Kahui's lawyer Lorraine Smith said tonight she was pleased with the IPCA decision.

"We were concerned during the trial about a number of matters and we referred those to the Independent Police Complaints Authority and we're pleased to see that our concerns were justified," she said.

Ms Smith would not comment on whether she thought the police failures to disclose evidence properly were deliberate.

A police spokeswoman said tonight police would have to read the decision carefully before making a comment.

 

 

 

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