Memorial to Tanya Burr, killed 15 September 2002
End of Name Suppression - 27/2/2003
The following news items are from the www.stuff.co.nz website, in order to 'quote' from an independent source. However, as the links will expire quickly, pasting them here is the only means to retain them.
The photos below were taken of a certain 17-year-old youth with his two minders arriving at Rotorua Airport on 12 November 2002. He was being held at Kingslea Youth Justice Centre, Christchurch, until this date. Tanya's best friend Anita previously worked in the Rotorua Airport terminal, but she had left Rotorua by this time. The pair crossed paths there on the youth's previous visit though - resulting in the boy's removal from the vicinity being ordered very quickly. That time he was not wearing handcuffs and was happily joking with his minders in full view of an increasingly traumatised Anita. Tanya would also have been working at this airport terminal had she lived a few more hours. This had been arranged prior to her trip overseas.
The photos were taken to prevent Tanya's loved ones from being injured or killed travelling unnecessarily to and from Rotorua to achieve the same result. They were not published on this website (or anywhere else) before the name suppression was lifted. Had there not been constant obstruction to achieving this vital need by Tanya's grieving family, no-one would have bothered to take this step. However, it achieved its goal in that devastated people who desperately wished to see what Tanya's alleged killer looked like, no longer had to bother to drive to Rotorua.
The rest of us would, by this stage, just like someone to provide him with a new jacket (for variety) - after all the many court appearances of the one shown in the photos!!!! We'd scrape up the money to pay for one for him ourselves, but it would be a little uncool, now wouldn't it! Gotta watch those possible gang colours too - eh?
Defence lawyer Harry Edward has asked for another psychiatric report on his 17-year-old client before deciding whether to go ahead with a trial.
The teenager, who has name suppression, appeared in the High Court at Rotorua.
He is charged with stabbing Miss Burr to death in her Hilda St flat in Rotorua on September 15 last year.
Rotorua Crown Solicitor John McDonald said the evidence against the accused was overwhelming, which was why Mr Edward was trying to prove the teenager was insane.
Mr Edward said despite the findings of the first report, he felt the matter needed to be investigated more thoroughly.
"This is the most significant issue for a trial," he said.
Mr Edward also asked that the suppression order continue until the teenager's next callover on April 30, pending the second psychiatric report.
"I don't think the public interest outweighs the interest of the accused at this stage. April 30 is not a long time."
Mr McDonald disagreed and said the teenager was now outside the youth court boundaries.
"It is a long name suppression for someone charged with murder and there was a lot of publicity about it at the time."
Mr Edward and Mr McDonald will argue the legalities of the teenager's name suppression before Justice Potter.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/bayofplenty/0,2106,2294192a6663,00.html
John Wharekura, 17, of Rotorua, is accused of stabbing Miss Burr to death in her Hilda St flat on September 15.
Defence lawyer Harry Edward did not appear in the High Court when the matter was to be dealt with, but speaking through Rotorua crown solicitor John McDonald, he said he was abandoning his application for name suppression.
Earlier this week, Mr Edward asked Justice Potter to continue a suppression order relating to the teenager's details until the matter's next callover on April 30. This was pending the outcome of a second psychiatric report.
The trial, which is expected to last up to five days, has been set to open on May 12.*
http://www.stuff.co.nz/bayofplenty/0,2106,2296870a6663,00.html
* Footnote: The trial was set for 26 May, not 12 May.
What Tanya saw!!!!!!
The black & white portrait photo of Wharekura (above) is scanned from a photocopy of the Rotorua Daily Post article, 28 February 2003. The coloured version of it below is from the NZ Herald website article on the guilty plea dated 26 May 2003. The photo of Tanya was the only one Emma had when the media asked her for one the day her body was found. They had found her old address in the Electoral Roll and were ringing the neighbours at Ngongotaha to see if anyone knew her. This is how, by complete chance, Emma came to have to deal with them.
The blouse Tanya is wearing in the photo is the one she was wearing in the coffin from Rotorua to the marae. However, leakage from the neck/shoulder wounds meant it had to be replaced the day before the funeral with a new one (mauve cowl-neck jersey with silver flecks) that I had to buy (at one of her favourite shops) in Palmerston North. The blouse was buried with Tanya, and was a poor choice in the first place - but she did not purchase her clothing with being murdered and having to cover stab wounds in mind.
Its gross and rather distasteful to have a photo of Tanya attached to that of a happy smiling murderer, but the NZ Herald did it that way, and that is why the bit about the blouse etc. is mentioned above!
