Peter and Neroli with their son Jayden (DomPost photo)From the DomPost article
" Two men who have received an apology from police after being wrongly imprisoned for 285 days are still battling for compensation.
Despite a written admission the men did not commit the crime, the Justice Ministry says the case falls outside the usual Cabinet guidelines for compensation and the men's lawyers are battling to argue their case.
It is two years to the day since they applied for compensation for a case that sparked the rare apology.The Independent Police Conduct Authority have upheld or partly upheld six of their families' 12 complaints.
Phillip Johnston and Jaden Knight were sentenced to six years' jail for a 2003 arson of the Foxton Hotel. The men, then aged 27 and 28, had stopped to help police after hearing of the fire on a scanner belonging to Mr Knight, a security guard.
Their parents each spent more than $20,000 of their retirement savings on fighting for their freedom and Mr Knight estimates he lost $160,000 in wages after being unable to work for three years while in prison and then on night curfew. The families agree the emotional cost of the experience was much higher.
The men had not been in trouble with the law before and neither of their families had any experience with police or the court system. It had been an emotional roller-coaster had left them angry, sad, and a little wiser, the men's parents said.
The men spent 9½ months in jail till their parents found new lawyers and applied to the Court of Appeal for a retrial. Police failure to disclose evidence resulted in two mistrials before the men were separately retried. Mr Johnston was found not guilty and the charges against Mr Knight were dismissed.
In March 2007, Central District Commander Mark Lammas visited the families and wrote to them apologising "for the police investigation resulting in you being wrongly charged and wrongly convicted for an offence you did not commit".
No-one has been charged for the arson since then and police say the case remains open.
Cabinet guidelines for compensation stipulate convictions must be quashed in the High Court or above. In this case the men were acquitted in a district court. They are relying on an "extraordinary circumstances" clause, listed by the Justice Ministry as being unequivocal innocence such as proved by DNA evidence, or an official admission of serious misconduct by authorities.
A Justice Ministry spokesman said the case had taken time to assess because it fell outside the guidelines and had "unusual features".
Their Trial By Fire:
November 12, 2003 – Lower Hutt men Phillip Johnston and Jaden Knight stop in Foxton and offer to help during a fire at the Manawatu Hotel.
December 2003 – Mr Johnston charged with the arson and Mr Knight charged with aiding and abetting.
September 2004 – Both are convicted and remanded in prison.
November 2004 – Both men sentenced to six years' jail.
June 2005 – Court of Appeal grants a retrial. The men are released on bail to their parents' homes.
January 6, 2006 – A retrial begins, but a mistrial is ruled on the third day after police find a file listing people of interest that should have been disclosed at the first trial. The judge orders the cases should be heard separately.
August 2006 – Mr Johnston is retried and found not guilty.
December 2006 – Mr Knight's trial is set down but thrown out after it is discovered police had held back evidence on possible other suspects.
February 2007 – The charges against Mr Knight are dismissed.
March 2007 – Central district commander Mark Lammas apologises to both families.
December 12, 2007 – Lawyer Christopher Stevenson writes to the Justice Ministry seeking compensation."
It is a worry and is just another part of the overall picture that has contributed to the reduction in the public esteem of the Police over the past few years. And now they are talking about going back to a split Traffic/Police system!!
Insurance: It is odd for a country that is generally pretty pragmatic that we don't have compulsory 3rd Party Insurance. It will come - just that it will take 15 years for the Politicians to get around to it.
