Senior Constable Keith Abbott yesterday recounted in court the final seconds of his encounter with Steven Wallace on the main street of the Taranaki township of Waitara on April 30, 2000.
Abbott has pleaded not guilty in the High Court at Wellington to a charge of murder, in an unprecedented private prosecution for murder brought by the Wallace family.
Abbott was the first witness called by the defence in the trial.
He told the court how he fired a warning shot as Mr Wallace advanced on him with a softball bat.
"I fired a warning shot to awaken him to his senses, to tell him I was armed and had a loaded firearm."
Abbott recounted to his lawyer Susan Hughes how he thought Mr Wallace was actually another local man called David Toa.
He kept on saying: "David, David, what's going on? What are you doing?"
"He said to me the words 'You've been after me, I'm sick of it. You've pushed me too far'."
It was shortly after this that Abbott fired a warning shot but Mr Wallace continued advancing, he said.
"He was a threat, it's obvious you can't take your eyes off a threat."
Abbott said when Mr Wallace then changed his angle and continued coming forward he considered attempting to block his escape.
He recalled vividly what Mr Wallace said next.
"He said to me, 'You f***ing arsehole. If I get to get you, I'm going to f***ing kill you'."
Abbott said he then fired three shots in quick succession.
"I was in fear of my life. I honestly believe he was going to beat my head to a pulp.
"He had the instrument to do it with, he told me he was going to do it."
Ms Hughes asked Abbott if he was now aware that four shots had been fired. He said he was.
Abbott said pepper spray had a range of 1m to 3.5m.
Initially, Mr Wallace had been out of range, and when he did get within that range, Abbott had his weapon drawn.
"I consider I did not have enough time to holster my Glock and draw my pepper spray."
Earlier Abbott said he was a "fair cop".
"I dealt with the people of Waitara fairly," Abbott told his lawyer.
"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 60 seconds to decide on a course of action after being confronted by Mr Wallace, and had chosen to act in self-defence.
"He had only seconds, if not split seconds, in which he had to make a decision whether or not to shoot."
The defence said it would call several witnesses who had seen Mr Wallace that morning, as well as several expert police officers.
- NZPA
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