Graeme Burton in court last year. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The father of Karl Kuchenbecker, murdered by Graham Burton, said his family welcomes any recommendations which will stop something similar happening again.
Burton murdered the Wainuiomata father of two and injured four other people in January 6 last year while on the run from police after breaching his
parole conditions.
He was shot and captured by police in the Hutt Valley hills near Wainuiomata. As a result of being shot, his right leg was amputated above the knee.
In a report released today, the Independent Police Conduct Authority said police failed to ramp up their search for Burton until January 1, when they should have acted earlier.
The dead man's father Paul Kuchenbecker said he was "disappointed" with the police, who had many opportunities to send Burton back to prison before the shooting.
"It's just a shabby, casual attitude towards a cold-blooded murderer that's doing bad things," he told NZPA.
"If you're carrying a knife, carrying large sums of money and you're in the job of threatening and intimidating people for money and you're on parole for murder, you're inside (prison) it's as simple as that."
Mr Kuchenbecker said police did a good job in the last few days of the man hunt, but he said there would have been no need for that had Burton had been put back in prison.
"Any recommendations to stop this happening again are fine. To me life means life and he shouldn't have come out (of prison) in the first place.
"The police are just one of many departments that have failed the public in their first duty of safety."
He said the family was carrying on quite well after the loss of Karl, despite all the public attention surrounding the case.
- NZPA
View photos