The journalist who helped get a man out of prison

TV3 star presenter Paula Penfold, whose investigations helped free a wrongfully convicted murderer from prison, will talk about her work on the Teina Pora story when she appears as guest speaker at Hamilton’s legendary Wintec Press Club lunch event in May.

The 3^rd Degree reporter exposed serious injustices in Pora’s conviction for the murder of Auckland woman Susan Burdett. An appeal was heard by the Privy Council in London, and the conviction was overturned.

Penfold will address an invite-only audience of 100, including journalism students at the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), when she appears at the May 1 event in Hamilton.

Writer and Press Club president Steve Braunias said he was delighted Penfold accepted his invitation.

“We don’t often have credible journalists speak at Press Club,” he said. “Last year the guest speakers were Duncan Garner, Rachel Glucina and Pam Corkery.

“But Paula is an inspiration. She’s also media royalty in her own right, as well as being married to newsreader Mike McRoberts, who is often referred to in news reports as a semi-divine being.

“Paula’s campaign to free Pora is a reminder that journalism can do good in the world. We are honoured to have her speak to students as well as grown-up guests.”

Penfold said, “We first met Teina Pora in a car, parked in some side lane off Queen Street, in the rain. He sat in the front seat, us in the back, and we listened, captivated.

“This was not the monosyllabic teenager we’d seen in those police interviews from all those years ago. This was a man now in his late 30s, tired of prison, desperate to have his innocence heard. The outside world was a wondrous place to him. He’d seen the Sky Tower.

“We had already done two stories on his case; meeting him made us determined to see his story through to conclusion. You might assume that happened when the Privy Council delivered its judgement quashing Pora’s convictions for the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett.

“It could have been the end of what has been the most difficult, frustrating, hair-tearing – and rewarding – investigation we’ve ever done. But there’s still more to say. There is the interview with Teina himself who speaks in the most brutally honest and eloquent way. And then there is our next campaign: that Malcolm Rewa be re-prosecuted for the murder of Susan Burdett.”

The Wintec Press Club lunch series is held on behalf of the journalism students, and staged by the Wintec School of Media Arts. The guest list has included Winston Peters, David Farrier, Sir Colin Meads, Marcus Lush, Sarah Ulmer, Garth McVicar, Michele A’Court and other well-known figures in media, entertainment, sport, business and politics.

The 12-2pm lunch will be held at the Ferrybank restaurant and convention centre in Grantham St, on the banks of the Waikato River in downtown Hamilton.