Stephen Anderson is driven from court after an appearance. Photo / NZH
Stephen Anderson is driven from court after an appearance. Photo / NZH
On February 8, 1997, Stephen Lawrence Anderson gunned down six people and wounded five others during a rampage at a ski lodge just out of Raurimu in the central North Island.
Anderson's parents Helen and Neville owned the lodge and had invited a group of friends to spend the weekendwith them.
As the group sat around the breakfast table on the Saturday morning, Anderson - a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic - opened fire.
After his rampage he stripped naked and ran into the bush to hide but was spotted by a police officer in a helicopter and apprehended.
Anderson was later found not guilty of the murders by reason of insanity.
Today in Herald podcast A Moment In Crime senior journalist Anna Leask revisits the massacre and speaks to people who were there on the day - survivors and witnesses.
The Raurimu massacre was one of New Zealand's worst mass shootings and 20 years after the event the son of a victim - who was also shot in the fracas - spoke for the first time.
"There are a lot of moments I would like to go back and do again that day - and do it right," Rodney Van de Wetering told Leask during an interview around the anniversary in 2017.
"I wouldn't have given Anderson the opportunity ... that was my crime ... if I'd shot him, then my father would still be alive.
"I know I did everything I could that day, I know I didn't do too bad a job because I got my two kids out, and my mum, but in the back of my mind my dad still died because I didn't kill Stephen Anderson."
Anderson was detained as a special patient to a forensic mental health facility but was released in 2009 - with conditions and under monitoring.
In 2010 he penned an article for North & South magazine where he apologised for his actions.
"Am I sorry for what has happened? Yes, I am," he wrote.
Anderson describes his upbringing in a loving family, the lead-up to the killings, his mental ill health and what it was like locked up in a psychiatric facility after he was found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity.
The memorial at Raurimu. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The then-38-year-old said he regretted about half a dozen incidents in his life, "none more so than shooting dead my father, Neville, and five of his friends and associates".
"As well as the pain in my own family, my actions have affected a great many others."
Anderson, who is back living in the community, said he was now doing better, and while he understood the concerns people might have, he did his best not to cause harm to anyone. Nor did he want to upset anyone.
"The last thing I wish to do by writing this article is to cause more harm than has already occurred. I have done my best to keep the best mind possible through this process.
A Moment In Crime is written, hosted and produced by Anna Leask with help from the NZME sound and vision team.
Leask has been covering crime and justice for the Herald for more than a decade and has reported on most of the major incidents and events over that time.
"Each month I'll take you inside some of our most infamous incidents, notorious offenders and behind the scenes of high-profile trials and events to show you what's really happening in your backyard," she said.
"Heroes and villains battle for justice to be done, and it seems no matter how horrifying the story, we always want to know more.
"If you want to know more about the cases that have shocked and shaped our nation - from murders and massacres to violent villains and the utterly unbelievable - join me for A Moment In Crime."
In our first episode, we looked back at the Christchurch terror attack - what unfolded on March 15 and how it changed New Zealand.
The podcast has also delved into the cold case murder of Kayo Matsuzawa, the murder of Feilding farmer Scott Guy, the cold case of schoolgirl Alicia O'Reilly, double killer Jason Somerville - infamous for the Christchurch House of Horrors, and the Lundy and Crewe family murders.
NZME has a raft of other podcasts produced by journalists and broadcasters from the Herald, Newstalk ZB, ZM, The Hits and others - all available on iHeart radio.
To subscribe to A Moment In Crime visit iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
We want to hear from you
If there is a case you'd like us to consider covering email anna.leask@nzme.co.nz
To listen to all episodes of A Moment In Crime - click here
