11.30am
Police officer Keith Abbott described himself as a "fair cop" when the defence case opened in his murder trial in the High Court at Wellington today.
Abbott is facing an unprecedented private prosecution for murder brought by the family of Steven Wallace.
Abbott shot and killed Steven Wallace in the main street
of the Taranaki town of Waitara in the early hours of April 30, 2000.
"I dealt with the people of Waitara fairly," Abbott told his lawyer Susan Hughes in court this morning.
"I was told I was a fair cop."
Abbott detailed his training with batons, pepper spray and with the armed offenders squad.
He told the court he dealt with violent or drunken offenders about once a week, sometimes more. He said he preferred to deal with such offenders by talking to them.
"I told them I had a van load of police officers on the way from New Plymouth, and they should stop or desist. It usually worked."
Opening for the defence, lawyer Patrick Mooney said the police were not trained to shoot to wound.
"If a police constable is going to shoot, he is going to shoot to survive. He does not want to have to take the risk of missing -- he is shooting for his own survival."
The defence would argue that Abbott had only seconds to decide on a course of action after being confronted by Mr Wallace, and had chosen to act in self defence.
The defence said it would call several witnesses who had seen Mr Wallace that morning, as well as several expert police officers.
- NZPA
