Crown withdraws prosecution against David Tamihere after 36-year legal battle

A major chapter in Aotearoa New Zealand’s legal history has come to a close after the Crown announced it will not seek a retrial against David Tamihere. According to reporting from Waatea News, the Crown informed the High Court at Auckland on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, that there is no longer sufficient evidence to proceed with a new prosecution. Following the Crown's announcement, Justice Simon Mount discharged Tamihere, effectively ending a legal ordeal that has spanned more than three decades. Tamihere was originally convicted in 1990 in relation to the disappearances of Swedish backpackers Heidi Paakkonen and Sven Urban Höglin on the Coromandel Peninsula in 1989. Despite spending 20 years in prison, Tamihere has consistently maintained his innocence throughout the process. The path to this week’s discharge was paved in March 2026, when the Supreme Court quashed both of Tamihere’s murder convictions and ordered a retrial. The Supreme Court found that a fundamental error during the initial 1990 trial had rendered it unfair. Furthermore, the court noted that the Crown’s original case had changed significantly due to later evidence, including the 1991 discovery of Höglin’s remains in a location far from where the Crown had originally alleged the crimes occurred. A key factor in the case's collapse was the discrediting of prison informant Robert Conchie Harris. Harris, whose testimony was central to the original 1990 conviction, was later convicted of perjury regarding the claims he made about Tamihere. With the Crown now formally ending the prosecution, the case reaches a final legal resolution for Tamihere on the evidence currently available.