Murder of Urban Höglin and Heidi Paakkonen

Urban Höglin and Heidi Paakkonen

Swedish tourists Sven Urban Höglin, 23, and his fiancée Heidi Birgitta Paakkonen, 21, disappeared while tramping on the Coromandel Peninsula of New Zealand in 1989. Police, residents, and military personnel conducted the largest land-based search undertaken in New Zealand, attempting to find the couple.^[1] In December 1990, David Wayne Tamihere (born 1953) was convicted of murdering the pair, and sentenced to life imprisonment, despite the location of the bodies being unknown at the time of the trial.^[2][3][4] Höglin's body was discovered in 1991, and Tamihere filed a series of unsuccessful appeals during the 1990s. Though police argued he should not have been freed until he disclosed the site of Paakkonen's body,^[5] Tamihere was let out of jail on parole in November 2010.^[6]

Disappearance and trial

Thames

On 8 April 1989, backpacking tourists Höglin and Paakkonen from Storfors, Sweden went into the bush near Thames. They vanished and were reported missing in May. The disappearance led to an intense police investigation under the name Operation Stockholm, and attracted substantial media interest. Police, local residents, search and rescue and military personnel carried out the largest land-based search undertaken in New Zealand, performing grid-searches centred on Crosbie's Clearing, 12 km from Thames.^[1]

Tamihere, who had a prior conviction for manslaughter,^[7] and was a fugitive for skipping bail for a 1986 rape,^[5] admitted stealing the Subaru car belonging to the couple. He was arrested, and tried for their murder starting in October 1990. At the trial three witnesses (fellow inmates of Tamihere's, granted name suppression by the court) gave evidence that Tamihere had confessed the murder to them. Two trampers also identified Tamihere as a man they saw with a woman believed to be Paakkonen in a remote clearing. The court also heard Tamihere tied Höglin to a tree and sexually abused him before raping Paakkonen.^[8] In December 1990, the jury found Tamihere guilty of the murder and theft, and the judge sentenced him to life imprisonment with a 10-year non-parole period.^[5]

Appeals

In October 1991, ten months after the conviction, pig hunters discovered the body of Höglin near Whangamata;^[2][8] Paakkonen's body has never been found.^[9] Höglin's body was recovered 73 km from where police alleged the murders took place. With the body was a watch which police claimed at his trial Tamihere had given to his son following the murders. Discovery of the body also contradicted the testimony of a prosecution witness who said Tamihere had confessed to cutting up the bodies and throwing them into the ocean.^[8] Tamihere made an appeal against his convictions to the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, but the court reject the appeal in May 1992 on the basis the Crown had provided "convincing circumstantial proof".^[2] He was also denied leave to appeal to the Privy Council in 1994.^[3]

On 25 August 1995, one of the prosecution witnesses swore an affidavit attempting to recant evidence, and making allegations against the police of corruption and perverting the course of justice.^[10] The affidavit was released to Tamihere's counsel Murray Gibson and the media on 16 July 1996, and a Member of Parliament requested a ministerial inquiry into the case at Tamihere's behest. The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) conducted an inquiry, during which the witness withdrew the allegations of misconduct. After a thorough inquiry, the IPCA concluded that the police had not been guilty of any wrongdoing,^[10] and Minister of Justice Doug Graham rejected a call for further inquiry into the case. In 1997, Tamihere then made an application to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, but the committee found his claims were not substantiated, and ruled the communication as inadmissible.^[3]

Tamihere had a prior conviction for the manslaughter of an Auckland stripper, 23-year-old Mary Barcham, whom he killed in 1972 when he was 18 by hitting her on the head with a rifle.^[2] In 1992 he was found guilty of assaulting a 62-year-old woman in her home in 1985 and also has a conviction for assaulting another woman in her home in the 1980s.^[2] Tamihere is the brother of former MP John Tamihere.

On 3 November 2010, David Tamihere was granted parole, to be released on 15 November.^[11]

Cultural influence

The TV3 show Inside New Zealand: What's Your Verdict? re-examined the case with a television jury in 2007.^[8]

Filmmaker Bryan Bruce made a documentary Murder, They Said in 1996 examining the case,^[12] and wrote the book Hard Cases, which puts forward the theory Tamihere did not act alone, on the basis that as there were no defensive cuts to the bones of his hands, Höglin may have been held from behind while being stabbed from the front.^[13]

In 1999 Leanne Pooley made a television documentary Relative Guilt about the impact on Tamihere's extended family of his arrest, trial and conviction. The documentary won Best Documentary at the 2000 Qantas Media Awards.^[14]

Links to Thomas case

In November 2009, Pat Booth alleged that the Crown prosecutor and the police inquiry head in the Tamihere case were both leading figures in the earlier prosecution of Arthur Allan Thomas which had involved planting of evidence and perjury.^[15]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Garner, Theresa. "Friendships born out of tragedy". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=4899. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Swedes' killer up for parole but history is against him". The New Zealand Herald. 1 December 2000. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=162644. Retrieved 2009-11-10. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Human Rights Committee - Communication Nº 891/1999". Netherlands Institute of Human Rights. http://sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/fulltextccpr.nsf/ac824e16154a0621c1256d3d003321f6/5f9f981703f0611b41256d5900472e04?OpenDocument. Retrieved 2009-11-10. 
4. ^ "Tamihere denied parole for eighth time". The New Zealand Herald. 5 December 2008. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10546701. Retrieved 2009-11-10. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} "Tamihere denied parole for ninth time". The New Zealand Herald. 10 November 2009. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10608411. Retrieved 2009-11-10. 
6. ^ Carolyne Meng-Yee (7 November 2010). "Tamihere home in eight days". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10685932. Retrieved 11 September 2011. 
7. ^ "Parole eased for killer David Tamihere". The New Zealand Herald. 12 May 2011. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10725121. Retrieved 11 September 2011. 
8. ^ ^{a b c d} Stokes, Jon (12 March 2007). "Brother believes convicted killer will be out by 2009". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10428299. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
9. ^ Mussen, Deidre (5 April 2009). "Heidi's family cling to hope". Sunday Star Times. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/2315697/Heidis-family-cling-to-hope. Retrieved 2009-11-10. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "1996 Report on an investigation into the validity of the affidavit of witness C". Police Complaints Authority. 3 September 1996. http://ipca.govt.nz/includes/download.aspx?ID=104271. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
11. ^ NZ Herald staff, NZPA (3 November 2010). "David Tamihere to be released from prison". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10685089. Retrieved 2010-11-04. 
12. ^ "Film : F26819". The Film Archive. http://data.filmarchive.org.nz/search/details_film.php?ref_no=F26819&result_no=10. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
13. ^ "Shock new theory on Tamihere's Swedish murders". Sunday Star Times. 2 August 2008. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/562234. Retrieved 2009-11-10. 
14. ^ http://nzonscreen.com/title/relative-guilt-1999/overview Relative Guilt by Leanne Pooley 1999
15. ^ Pat Booth (17 November 2009). "Tamihere and Thomas – worrying links". Stuff.co.nz. http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/opinion/off-pat/3067330/Tamihere-and-Thomas-worrying-links. Retrieved 2010-11-04.