Rex Haig fears authorities will 'declare war on me' as he eyes compo bid

Friday, 20 October 2017

Rex Haig, of Dunedin, is hoping to lodge a compensation claim with the Government.

Rex Haig has brought on some heavyweight legal backing as he prepares to launch a compensation bid for the ten years he spent in prison for murder.

Haig was convicted of the 1994 murder of Mark Roderique, and in August 2006 the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction, ordering a permanent stay with no retrial.

From left, Dean Parata, Wayne October, Rex Haig, Richard Genge in court on March 3, 2001. Haig, along with other inmates at Christchurch Prison, held six prison guards hostage for 26 hours in 1997 to draw attention to alleged anomalies in their cases.

His initial quest for compensation was rejected by former Justice Minister Simon Power after a report by Robert Fisher QC cast doubt on his innocence.

Haig believes there were errors in that report, and his case is being reviewed by long-time Scott Watson campaigner Mike Kalaugher and jailhouse lawyer Arthur Taylor, who helped with the guilty verdict in the perjury trial of 'Witness C' in the David Tamihere murder case.

* Government rejects David Bain's bid for compensation

* Haig had hand in murder, says QC**

The 70-year-old Dunedin man confirmed he is eyeing up a potential compensation bid next year, but fears in doing so authorities will 'declare war on me'.

Despite having his murder conviction quashed, Haig's decade long stint in jail continues to haunt him.

Recently he returned from working in Patagonia, Argentina, as a diving technician, but if he returned he would have to complete a full police check, which would reveal his kidnapping conviction.

That came after a 1997 incident when he and some other inmates - citing concerns over injustice - held Paparua Prison officers hostage using fake explosives.

Haig said he got caught up in the kidnapping as soon as he walked into the manager's office, but realises the irony of it being the only criminal conviction to his name.

The same conviction has previously stopped him from getting other offshore diving work, and made him 'angry at the justice system'.

That anger was likely to be channelled towards a possible judicial review, and ultimately a compensation claim against a system which found him guilty of murdering Mark Roderique.

Roderique, who and was last seen on Haig's fishing boat Antares, disappeared at Jackson Bay, South Westland in 1994.

A key witness in the case, Anton Sherlock, told police that crew member David Hogan admitted the killing, but Sherlock was later murdered.

Hogan, who who was paid $13,000 and granted immunity from prosecution, after testifying against Haig, his uncle.

Hogan appeared in the Invercargill District Court in August and was sentenced to three months jail for possessing meth, breaching a protection order, and threatening to kill.

Haig, who estimated his prison stint cost him several million dollars in lost wages, said he recommended to Crown Law that a 'minimum' for wrongful conviction compensation be $100,000 for each year of a prison sentence served.

Haig had re-read some of his case documents and had no love for some officials involved.

'I couldn't believe what a bunch of a..holes they were.'

And while it was hard watching other compensation cases, such as his former cell mate David Bain, he was ready for his greatest fight yet.

'You have to be when you take on the system, it is so powerful.'