Reconstruction of shooting expected to take days

Reconstruction of shooting expected to take days

Reconstructing the 12-hour siege in an Opunake hotel that resulted in Anthony Ratahi being fatally shot by Police is expected to take some days.

Approximately 30 staff from around Central District are working on the investigation supported by ESR staff from Wellington who will complete the scene examination which is also expected to take two to three days.

Acting District Commander Pat Handcock said: "It is vital that the investigation and the scene examination are thorough and meticulous. Mr Ratahi was inside the hotel with his hostage for some 12 hours and we need to piece together his movements and his actions during those hours. We also need to carefully reconstruct the confrontation which led to Police shooting Mr Ratahi. These are not processes that can or should be rushed as it is extremely important, at the end of the investigation, we are confident that all the actions taken by Police were appropriate."

"It is inevitable after incidents such as these that background information, rumour, speculation and opinion will start to surface. The community can be reassured that all of the issues that emerge will be traversed in detail and the relevance to events this weekend will be carefully assessed."

Media reports that Mr Ratahi was armed, dangerous and on the run the day before the hotel siege are not accurate. Police had issued an appeal through the media to the public in relation to Mr Ratahi in May of this year when he was wanted for offences for which he was later imprisoned. He handed himself to Police the day after the media appeal was issued. Since Mr Ratahi's release from prison on 6 July no incidents had been reported to Police.

Police want to take the opportunity to reassure the public that incidents of family violence are treated extremely seriously. Those who suffer family violence are often at high risk of becoming repeat victims and a considerable amount of work is undertaken by Police and other agencies to reduce those risks.

In this specific case Police were fully aware of Mr Ratahi's prison release date. They had been in close liaison with the victim and her family and measures had been put in place to help mitigate the risks to her.

Inspector Handcock said: "I'm not prepared to discuss the details of the safety measures we put in place but it is already clear from what I have learned in the last 24 hours that a great deal of work had been done by the local staff to minimise the risk to the victim."