Editorial: Movie will bring back tragic days

The Napier siege is something all of us wish had never happened and something many are still trying to forget.

But three years after Jan Molenaar killed Constable Len Snee, and seriously wounded fellow officers Bruce Miller and Grant Diver, and civilian Lenny Holmwood, the incident is being remembered in a two-hour television movie.

The movie, which was filmed mainly in Napier last year, is called Siege and will be shown on TV One at 8.30pm next Sunday.

It was produced by Screentime and will be followed next Tuesday by a documentary Siege: The Interviews in which Senior Constables Miller and Diver tell their stories.

Jan Molenaar's actions had an impact on the entire country. The initial shooting on May 7, 2009 and the 53 hours of chaos that followed, will never be forgotten by New Zealanders. For the people of Napier, and Hawke's Bay as a whole, it was even closer to home.

Many people suffered as a result of one man's actions. Len Snee's widow Vicki has to live with the loss of her husband every day, while Mr Miller, Mr Diver and Mr Holmwood have to live with the trauma of being shot and watching someone being killed in front of them. If you take into account other family members, friends, colleagues and the wider communities, this incident has affected an untold number of lives.

This newspaper revealed last month that Mr Holmwood had left Hawke's Bay to flee criminal fringe harassment since the tragedy. Mr Holmwood, commended for his bravery but also left with permanent injuries caused when shot by a man he thought was his friend, said: "Because of my association with the police (since the shooting), some of those people think I'm a nark."

It will forever be remembered as a sad day in the history of New Zealand -the day a man with murderous intent took matters into his own hands and turned world upside down.

There was a bit of debate over whether this was the right time for a movie on the incident. The families have seen the movie and now the rest of the country gets that opportunity.

It will be painful for some and sad for most but, hopefully it will be cathartic for the nation and bring about closure of some sorts.