After more than 30 years, the man convicted of killing two Swedish backpackers in one of the country's most high-profile double-murder cases has today returned to court in a bid to clear his name.
In 1989, 23-year-old Urban Höglin and his fiancée, 21-year-old Heidi Paakkonen, disappeared while tramping in the Coromandel bush, sparking New Zealand's largest ever land search.
Convicted criminal David Tamihere, who admitted to stealing the young couple's car, was found guilty of their murders a year later, despite neither body being found.
Tamihere has always maintained his innocence, even as the Court of Appeal rejected his case in 1992. An appeal to the Privy Council was denied in 1994.
He was released from prison on parole in 2010.
In 2020, then governor-general Dame Patsy Reddy granted a royal prerogative of mercy, sending his case back to the Court of Appeal.
Tamihere's counsel, James Carruthers, argued in court today that the Crown prosecutors in his 1990 trial had "routinely called on fabricated prison informant evidence to prop up contentious eyewitness identification evidence".
David Tamihere, convicted of murdering two Swedish tourists, has taken his fight to clear his name to the Court of Appeal. (Source: 1News)
During the original trial, police used testimony from three inmates, including convicted murderer Roberto Conchie Harris, who claimed Tamihere had admitted to sexually abusing the Swedes before killing them.
In 2017, Harris was found guilty of perjury.
"Had Mr Harris been exposed completely at the time as someone who committed perjury in the box, Justice Tonkins would not have given the direction that he gave," Carruthers said.
"He would've given a stern and direct warning to disregard Mr Harris's evidence completely."
Eyewitness evidence from trampers who claimed they saw Paakkonen with Tamihere at the murder scene is also being questioned.
Tamihere's lawyer said the connection was only made after they joined the search party and saw the media coverage.
"They were exposed to photographs of Ms Paakkonen and never once — either during the search or the lead-in to trial, or even at trial itself — had they thought to identify her as the woman they had seen at Crosbies Clearing," Carruthers said.
Höglin's body was eventually discovered one year after the trial, in 1991 — and more than 70 kilometres from where police claimed he had been killed.
Tamihere's defence argued that moving the body that far didn't make sense.
"It's the opposite of someone trying to evade detection," Carruthers said.
The Crown will continue to argue in court tomorrow that moving Höglin's body strengthens their case.
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