KEY POINTS:
When Dean Harrison and his family first met Lee Jane Mettam she had clean hair, beautiful teeth and never swore.
But that all vanished when she became addicted to the drug P.
After her P addiction took hold, she was almost unrecognisable, with dreadlocks in her hair, pale
skin and rotten teeth.
Mettam was angry and had no money, which meant she couldn't afford her next P hit - and when she got desperate, she got dangerous.
Mettam became the first woman ever to be shot dead by police after she walked into a Whangarei Vodafone store with an airgun on October 23 and took a man hostage.
She had been going to see Mr Harrison, a senior salesman there. Police arrived, Mettam walked out and waved the airgun around and she was shot in the chest.
Mr Harrison yesterday told the Weekend Herald about the events leading up to the incident to show the dangerous effects P can have and how the drug turned Mettam into someone he hardly recognised.
"It's definitely a character-changing drug," he said.
The family knew she had a "colourful" past but were not sure of what she had done before his son brought Mettam, then 28, home in 1999.
Twelve years ago she was sentenced to two years' supervision for causing grievous bodily harm to then partner, Alex Houtwipper.
But none of that was evident when the Harrisons knew her.
"The time we spent with her she was quite awesome. But after that it was like Jekyll and Hide," Mr Harrison said.
"She got on well with my kids and was Auntie Lee to everyone ... She was fun and laughed a lot."
She never raised her voice and was an animal lover. "She had two dogs and loved animals. She was a neat person."
She was of the Catholic faith and from "a well-to-do family".
The relationship with his son ended but Mettam stayed in touch with the Harrisons, who helped her into a couple of farm jobs.
After that she become addicted to P. Despite their pleading to get help, and their support, nothing worked.
Mr Harrison's wife Lynette told the Northern Advocate she thought Mettam must have had cancer because when she saw her she looked so terrible.
"She looked thin with hollowed cheeks, her teeth were rotten and her skin was pale. She looked ill. Later I understood that these were all symptoms of P addiction."
Said Mr Harrison: "We didn't know what to do. We had nothing to talk to her about."
Just before the shooting Mettam started texting threats towards the family, demanding thousands or she would kill them.
Mr Harrison told the Advocate: "We'd given her $100 to help her, since she was connected with the family. But the next day she decided she wanted $800. It was extortion, complete with death threats."
Days before the shooting Mettam assaulted his daughter on a Whangarei street.
Mr Harrison urged anyone who suspected a family member or someone they knew was using P to get help for them quickly.
"It's so close to home and really opened our eyes."
Former detective Mike Sabin now specialises in how to deal with P users. He said the Mettam case highlighted a P myth that the drug was used only by celebrities and gangs.
He said something that was often overlooked was that although P users were on a "fast track to catastrophe", it was the people around them who got hurt as well.
