It was "dumb" for a former detective to make Aaron Farmer, who was today paid $351,575 for his wrongful conviction, believe police had more evidence against him than they did, Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess says.

Farmer served two years of an eight-year sentence after a jury found him guilty of raping a 22-year-old woman in Sydenham in September, 2003.

He was freed in June, 2007, after the Court of Appeal ruled that alibi evidence was not presented to the jury, and a retrial was ordered. The Crown decided not to go ahead with a retrial after DNA samples from the woman excluded Farmer.

The former detective involved is now a senior sergeant in the Lower Hutt community team. He is no longer in an investigative role and was unlikely to be in the future.

There was no formal disciplinary process but he was spoken to at the time.

"Frankly it's just a dumb thing to do, you're talking to somebody on interview, you're not telling them the truth, then everybody's going to know about it."

Burgess said it did not make sense to mislead an interviewee and was "rather foolish".

Police have reviewed their interview processes since the case and Burgess was confident it was unlikely a similar event would occur. However, he was confident the interview had not led to Farmer's wrongful conviction and imprisonment.

Police would be contacting Farmer to see whether he wanted to speak with them about the matter. At this stage the Government had apologised on behalf of the police.

COMPENSATION PLANS

Farmer, 41, who is living on benefits and splits his time between Feilding and Christchurch, said he was considering buying a house with the compensation money or spending it on his motorcycle. He had received support and insults from people who had recognised him since he was freed.

"I've got some good people around the place who have been very good to me."

The keen motorcyclist said he had planned to travel the world on his motorbike before he was sent to prison, but he was "getting a bit old now".

Farmer said he would like an explanation from the woman who made the accusation.

Farmer's mother, Bev, today put the blame squarely on police for her son's wrongful incarceration.

''I believe the police that were concerned were looking for an answer and they chose Aaron. They showed a photograph apparently to the woman who was making the accusation and she picked him out of the photographs,'' she told Radio New Zealand.

She believed police had gone out to set her son up ''right from the start''.

''I thought that justice was justice. I now know it isn't.''

She said the written apology by the Government was important to the family to prove Farmer's innocence to people still unsure if he committed the crime.

''[The conviction] destroyed our lives ... it took everything.''

Police told Farmer his DNA was on the woman, ''which of course it wasn't - so they lied to him even in his interview'', Ms Farmer said.

She now resented the police force.

''I will never trust a policeman again. I am angry and I don't think I will ever lose that.''

'STRONG AND FAIR JUSTICE SYSTEM'

Associate Justice Minister Nathan Guy today apologised for the ''devastating wrong'' and losses Farmer suffered, and said the Crown accepted his innocence.

The compensation payment also acknowledged that some of the questions or suggestions by police when they interviewed Farmer were criticised by the courts for being unfair or misleading.

Guy said he had written to Farmer apologising and understood that letter was going to be framed and hung in Farmer's house.



"We have a very strong and fair justice system in New Zealand but occasionally it gets things wrong and it's an important point today that the Crown fronts up and fairly compensates Mr Farmer for the hardship that this has caused him." He hoped Farmer would be able to move on with his life.



Asked if the compensation was enough, Guy said the amount had been increased to account for the extraordinary circumstances.



"It's very technical, officials work through all of the... there's obviously loss of integrity, there's loss of freedom. All of those things are factored in and this is a fair package that has been accepted by Mr Farmer."