Last updated 15:36, May 6 2018
STUFF
Liam Reid looks to the public gallery during his High Court appearance for the murder of Emma Agnew.
Liam Reid looks to the public gallery during his High Court appearance for the murder of Emma Agnew.
A documentary about the brutal rape and murder of 20-year-old deaf woman Emma Agnew will air tonight, despite the killer responsible trying to stop it from going to air.
In 2008 Liam Reid was found guilty of raping and killing Agnew in a wooded area in north Christchurch before dumping her car in an east Christchurch parking lot and setting it on fire.
Agnew was trying to sell her vehicle and it was believed that Reid posed as an interested buyer. The two drove to Spencer Park where Reid is believed to have shoved a sock down Agnew's throat and raped her.
Emma Agnew.
Nine days later, he raped and tried to murder a 21-year-old woman in Dunedin.
He was sentenced to 26 years in prison, non-parole, which was reduced to 23 years in 2009 at the Court of Appeal.
Parents of murdered deaf woman Emma Agnew, Henry and Louise Agnew comfort each other outside the Christchurch High Court after Liam Reid was convicted on six charges including the murder of Emma.
South Pacific Pictures have produced "Operation EMZ", about the police investigation of Agnew's murder, for their TV series Forensics NZ, to air on Prime on Sunday night.
In 2017 Reid tried to legally stop South Pacific Pictures from making the documentary while he tried to get his conviction overturned.
Reid is applying for something called the Royal Prerogative of Mercy which is an appeal to the Governor-General of New Zealand to have convictions overturned.
Liam Reid at the Christchurch High Court in 2008 facing charges of murdering Emma Agnew.
Reid wanted to have an injunction on South Pacific granted out of fear the documentary would affect his hypothetical future fair trial rights.
But in February this year Justice Kit Toogood threw out Reid's injunction application. His lawyer, Charl Hirschfeld likened Reid's case to that of wrongfully convicted man Teina Pora.
The Forensics NZ documentary comes ten years after Reid's conviction and covers the excruciating police investigation of the crime.
South Seas publicist Kristina Hard said viewers would be able to watch elements of the police investigation which weren't covered in the media at the time.
"Our audience will be able to see exactly how police and the forensics experts from ESR (Institute of Environmental Science and Research) used DNA evidence and had a breakthrough to solve the crime
"Those details are often kept private during the trial. There are details that come through that have not been seen by the public before."
The documentary features photos from where Agnew's body was found, Reid's clothes and personal belongings and Agnew's burnt-out car.
It also features high quality re-enactment scenes about the police discovery of evidence during the investigation as well as scientists and police who worked on the case.
The documentary covers how police tracked Agnew's and Reid's phones to Spencer park in north Christchurch.
It also goes through important evidence such as Reid's palm print found by police on the outside of the car, Agnew's texts and the pubic hair identified as Reid's in the back seat of the vehicle which finally secured the police prosecution.
Most people aren't aware of the technical details of how police solve a crime with forensics science, Hard said.
"I've learnt so much working on the series. We don't realise the science behind the crime, how DNA works and how long it takes to investigate."
Hard said South Pacific did not know how Reid came to know of the documentary but was certain he hadn't seen its contents.
"He hasn't actually seen it so he doesn't know what is in the doco. The details of Forensics are kept very quiet."
The judge at the time of Reid's initial trial found that he was an "evil and dangerous predator without the slightest flicker of remorse."
The documentary will air at 8:30pm on Sunday night on Prime.