The lawyer for an autistic man wrongly convicted of rape and jailed, doubts police will ever find the true culprit.
Christchurch man Aaron Farmer had his conviction quashed in 2007 after he had served two years of an eight-year sentence for the 2003 rape of a 22-year-old woman in suburban Sydenham.
Yesterday, the Government apologised to Mr Farmer and agreed to pay him $351,575 in compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment.
Mr Farmer's lawyer Simon Shamy said the case was "pretty cold".
"The complainant's gone, I think she doesn't live in Christchurch, she's obviously left it all behind her...
"There's no more forensics to be had, there's no eye witnesses, so I don't know how (police) could get it going again," Mr Shamy told Radio New Zealand today.
He doubted the true offender would be found.
"There is, as far as we're aware, a rapist out there and they've been out there for years, possibly offending all the time," he said.
A retrial was ordered after it was revealed Mr Farmer's alibi evidence had not been presented to the jury at his trial.
The Crown decided against a retrial after DNA samples, not available at the time of the trial, ruled out Mr Farmer.
During the police investigation of the case, police falsely told Mr Farmer his DNA had been found on the woman.
His mother, Bev Farmer, said yesterday it was obvious police had lied during the interview.
"I believe the police concerned were looking for an answer and they chose Aaron," she told Radio New Zealand.
"They showed a photograph apparently to the woman who was making the accusation and she picked him out of the photographs."
She believed police had gone out to set her son up "right from the start".
"I thought that justice was justice. I now know it isn't."
Police Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess agreed police made mistakes during the investigation.
"I think we can be justifiably criticised for the interview that was conducted. We have acknowledged there were some inadequacies in the prosecution phase of the inquiry...in the manner in which the case was put to court," he said yesterday.
He said it was not standard police practice to lie to people being interviewed during an investigation.
"It's stupid."
The evidence available at the time was Mr Farmer was the likely suspect, Mr Burgess said. "That obviously narrows the focus to what that person might or might not have done."
The officer who was in charge of the case has since left the police, but the investigating officer was still working with the force in Wellington as a senior sergeant in the youth and community unit.
The officer who conducted the interview with Mr Farmer was "moved sideways" within the force.
"I guess if your career aspirations are to be in the investigation field, that career aspiration dried up when he was moved out of the CIB. So to that extent he was (punished)."
Police were yet to decide if they would make an apology to Mr Farmer, Mr Burgess said.
"That is not something we have formally dealt with yet."
