Lawyers for Teina Pora have begun making their case at the Privy Council in London, saying the convicted murderer made a false confession to police because he suffers from significant brain damage.
Pora was paroled earlier this year after 21 years in prison for the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett, of which he was twice convicted.
Overnight, lawyer Jonathan Krebs told the Privy Council his client suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and had a mental age of nine or 10 at the time of the crime, Radio New Zealand reported.
Krebs said extent and effect of the disability means Pora's confession should have been seen as unreliable.
“We are asking you to look at all of that material in the light of the scientific evidence now available which contextualises it and explains why the appellant would take the counter-intuitive step of confessing to something that he did not do.”
He said the 38-year-old's condition made him easily confused and meant he had a drive to please and satisfy others.
The Solicitor-General, Michael Heron, told the Privy Council that from the very beginning the veracity of the confessions has been the focus of the case, but Pora's confession was voluntary.
