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Jeanette and Harvey Crewe - Source: ONE News -
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Forty years after her husband was convicted of murder, Arthur Allan Thomas' ex-wife Vivien has spoken out for the first time about New Zealand's most baffling murder mystery.
This comes as Justice Minister Simon Power is considering a letter from Vivien requesting he re-open the cold case.
In 1970 a murder investigation was launched after a baby was found alive in a blood stained house with the parents nowhere to be found.
This investigation would later shock the nation in what was to become one of New Zealand's most notorious cases of police misconduct.
The bodies of Jeanette and Harvey Crewe were discovered weighted and dumped in the Waikato River and neighbour Thomas was arrested and convicted following two trials.
The investigation and subsequent trials that followed the Pukekawa murders were to have a significant impact on many peoples' lives, but none more so than that of Vivien.
Now known as Vivien Harrison, in 1970 she was accused by police of being involved in the double homicide by feeding baby Rochelle.
While an unwavering statement from local farmhand Bruce Roddick led to her being cleared of any involvement, the case did lead to the demise of her marriage and force her from the country.
Vivien filed for divorce after Thomas' guilty verdict remained in place after the second trial. The pair never spoke again, but she remained a staunch supporter of his innocence, maintaining he was home with her at the time of the murders.
She says the case completely messed up her life. She knew the media attention would never go away and so in order to avoid the spotlight she moved to Australia.
Vivien says she now realises that her divorce led many to believe she thought her husband was guilty, but she says that was not the case at all.
The persistence of Thomas' supporters paid off in 1979, when after nine years behind bars, Thomas was pardoned.
Then in 1980 a bombshell was dropped when a Royal Commission found police had planted evidence to convict Thomas. The commission ruled Thomas should never have been charged, much less convicted.
The commission concluded police had planted a gun cartridge case, which was crucial to the case, to frame him. As a result Thomas was rewarded $950,000 in compensation.
Mystery remains
Thomas was exonerated, but the mystery remains over who fed the baby before the murder was discovered.
Vivien, and others who lived in the area at the time, know who this mystery woman is but as she is still alive she is not able to be named.
Vivien says even though police were told at the time by Roddick, who had seen her on the property, they did not follow it up as it went against all the evidence they were using to point the blame on Thomas.
"The police have known all along, right from the word go who it was," she says.
She says it is still possible that justice will prevail in this case if the woman comes forward and tells what she knows.
Vivien has written to the Minister of Justice with her statement and a suggestion he read the North and South magazine article published this month.
"I have asked him if he will reconsider reopening the case, or take whatever action is necessary to address the issue of who fed Rochelle Crewe."
She says she cannot understand why someone would remain silent while an innocent man suffered.
Vivien says it is important that this case is not forgotten because it still remains unsolved.
"You've got two unsolved murders and you have the woman that is available to be interviewed that fed the child ... and the police just seem to be washing their hands of it, they don't want to come to grips with it and deal with it."
Power's office says he will respond to the request in due course.
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