Three men have been imprisoned for the torture and murder of two drug dealers from Queensland, whose bodies were discovered in a toolbox. One of the men has challenged his convictions, arguing the jury used evidence that was not admissible.
In February 2020, a Brisbane Supreme Court jury found Tuhirangi-Thomas Tahiata, who was 28 at the time, guilty of the murders of Cory Breton, 28, and Iuliana Triscaru, 31, and gave him a life sentence.
In February 2016, the bodies of Breton and Triscaru were discovered drowned in a lagoon south of Brisbane.
Judge Peter Davis at the time called the killings “horrific” and stated that Tahiata knew he was “driving them to their deaths” but had no involvement in beating and restraint the pair.
On Wednesday, the Brisbane Court of Appeal received arguments on the validity of Tahiata’s convictions.
The fact that the jury was informed Tahiata had confessed to police while their interrogation video camera was turned off, according to Tahiata’s attorney April Freeman, constituted a legal error throughout the trial.
Tahiata admitted to the jurors, according to a police witness: “I did it. I took them out. I killed the two of them.”
Tahiata’s exact statements during the confession were later declared inadmissible because they did not comply with the laws guiding the behavior of Queensland Police as acceptable records.
According to Freeman, the jury was shown the Tahiata quotation as a “pivotal moment” during the trial.
“It affected the jury when looking at (Tahiata’s) other police interviews and deciding which version is true,” Freeman stated.
According to the crown prosecutor, the jury had not been impacted by the error and the inadmissible evidence had no bearing on how the case turned out.
“There was no complaint about it by (Tahiata’s defence) counsel at trial, it’s a matter for the jury which version of events they accepted,” the prosecutor stated.
Tahiata’s confession to having committed murder and being willing to face the consequences was one of the additional pieces of evidence, according to the prosecutor, that supported Tahiata’s conviction.
Acting Justice Michael Buss, Chief Justice Helen Bowskill, and Justice Peter Flanagan all held off on making a ruling about the appeal.
