Why a Booktrail?
2000s: The Confessions of Teina Pora and an Ex-Cop’s Fight for Justice
In Dark Places
What you need to know before your trail
Teina Pora, a 17-year-old car thief, was wrongly convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Susan Burdett, who had been beaten to death with the softball bat she kept next to her bed for her own protection
Tim McKinnel, en ex-cop turned private investigator, discovered the long forgotten case 18 years later, saw an injustice had been done and set out to win Teina’s freedom.
Reaching from the mean streets of South Auckland to the highest court in the Commonwealth, this is the story not just of Tim’s quest, but also of how an innocent man who was left rotting in a prison cell for two decades found the inner strength to rise above the dark places to which he had been condemned.
Locations
Reset- New Zealand -North Island - Auckland
- A: Papatoetoe
- B: Manukau Superstrike
- C: Paremoremo prison
Travel Guide
From the Rotorua Crime fiction festival 2019:
IN DARK PLACES is the story of the shameful false convictions and 21 year imprisonment of Michael’s friend Teina Pora.
That book, which the judges called “a scintillating, expertly balanced account of one of the most grievous miscarriages of justice in New Zealand history” grew from an award-winning documentary Michael made about the case for Māori Television.
Michael directed and co-wrote IN DARK PLACES, a film for television based on his book, which screened on TVNZ in July 2018 to an audience of several hundred thousand viewers.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: In Dark Places
Destination: Auckland Author/guide: Bennett Michael Departure Time: 2000s
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