Convicted killer Mikaeare Oketopa is “ecstatic” and “very grateful” an independent body set up to look into serious miscarriages of justice has referred his case to the Court of Appeal after new evidence emerged. 

Mikaere Oketopa, formerly Michael October, was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 1995 for the rape and murder of 22-year-old Anne-Maree Ellens in the grounds of Christchurch East primary school. 

While Ellens was heavily intoxicated, Oketopa alongside two co-defendants allegedly took her into the school, raped her, and savagely beat her to death. 

Her semi-naked body was found on the school steps the next morning. 

Now, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), also known as Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, says new evidence suggests Oketopa’s confessions to police were likely to be false and questions the integrity of the police investigation. 

Mikaere Oketopa, formerly Michael October, was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 1995 for the rape and murder of 22-year-old Anne-Maree Ellens in the grounds of Christchurch East primary school. 

Oketopa told the Herald today he was “pretty ecstatic, very humbled, and massively grateful”. 

“It means vindication finally after 30 years next year... the lawyers maintained I am innocent of those charges and I still maintain that today.” 

“Massive, massive relief. It’s been a long journey, it’s a hard walk but I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to get back to the appeal court.” 

Asked if he was confident his conviction would be overturned he said he had “every faith in the justice system”. 

“I’d like to know and see a massive miscarriage of justice has happened and they do the right thing. I’m quite a personal, humble guy, just day by day and grateful to have the opportunity to step back into the arena.” 

The last 29 years had been “pretty hard”, he said. 

“I ended up doing a life sentence, serving 15 years and I’m still on life parole today so I still report to probation. Family, people that it’s affected, massive ripple. 

“Today, look I’m still here. I’m happy with my job, happy with my relationship, where I am at today and great people around me.” 

He thanked his lawyer, Kerry Cook, and his support people who “always had my back and belief in my innocence”. 

“Today, you know, it’s a good day.” 

During interviews conducted by police two days after the death of Ellens, Oketopa made admissions that the pair had consensual sex at Christchurch East School and heard the victim screaming a short time later. Oketopa later retracted these statements. 

Mikaere Oketopa, formerly Michael October, was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 1995. 

According to a leading authority on false confessions, Professor Gisli Gudjonsson, Oketopa falsely confessed to the crimes. 

“Professor Gudjonsson concluded that Mr Oketopa’s admissions had “all the hallmarks of internalised false confessions” and that there was a high risk that his admissions to the police were false confessions, and that the police investigation took on a “guilt presumptive mindset” from the time the confessions were made,” said CCRC. 

Oketopa was convicted alongside two co-defendants, Richard Genge and Samuel Kirner. 

“An unusual factor, in this case, is that Genge and Kirner have consistently maintained that they did not know Oketopa and only met him at their first appearance after being charged with the crimes,” CCRC says. 

Oketopa’s admissions and eyewitness identification evidence were crucial in the Crown’s case against him. 

However, Oketopa still claims he wasn’t at the crime scene. 

CCRC says there is strong evidence Oketopa was asleep in his associate’s car in another part of Christchurch at the time of the homicide, about 2.30am. 

“Defence counsel failed to interview and call two witnesses who could have given evidence suggesting that Oketopa was asleep in the car at the time, with one stating the car was checked multiple times throughout the night.” 

An aspect of the evidence against Oketopa was an eyewitness who identified him as one of three men with the victim shortly before her death with his arm around her waist. 

“The investigation has identified several issues with the identification evidence from the limited material available. 

“Oketopa had a three to four-inch beard at the time of the murder, yet the eyewitness identification, including the computer sketch, described the suspect with a short-cut goatee beard, which matched Genge more than Oketopa.” 

When interviewed by police, Kirner also identified Genge as being the person the eyewitness saw with his arm around Ellens. 

A fourth issue raised brings the integrity of the police investigation into question, with CCRC claiming crucial documents were either not created as they should have been or removed from the police file. 

“The commission has concerns police conducted their investigation with tunnel vision, focused on Oketopa as a suspect. This meant any alternative explanations were discounted,” CCRC says. 

Several issues have also been identified with how police interviewed Oketopa, including his lack of access to a lawyer before being interviewed. 

In 2011, Oketopa was jailed for 21 months for strangling and threatening to kill his girlfriend. 

Oketopa told his girlfriend during the July 30 incident at his home: “This is the last night you will have air in your lungs”. 

He also told her: “Too bad your son’s not going to have a mother”. 

Oketopa stopped the attack when she told him she loved him and let her body go limp. 

She said later she believed she was going to be killed. 

This is the second-ever case CCRC has referred to an appeal court, the first being a 15-year-old, referred to only as Mr G who was sentenced in 2001 to 11 months in an adult prison. He was charged with assault, drink-driving and unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle. 

Sentencing laws at the time prohibited anyone under 16 from being imprisoned unless the offences were indictable, meaning they were serious enough to require a jury trial - but Mr G’s offences were not. 

However, district court documents filed at the time had the wrong date of birth, indicating Mr G was 17 instead of 15. 

Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022. 

Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers crime. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.