Shot actor threatened officers with death

Rob Mokaraka, outside court yesterday, will be sentenced in July. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Just before he was shot in the chest by police, actor Rob Mokaraka taunted officers by saying, "I can only kill one of you - who's it gonna be" and laughed in their faces when asked to drop his weapon.

Mokaraka, 36, left a note for his parents and daughter that made it clear he expected to die and then called police to tell them there was an agitated man at his Pt Chevalier home who he believed had a gun.

The actor yesterday pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court to four charges arising from the July 27 incident.

In a quiet voice he said guilty to two counts of threatening to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to a police officer and two counts of assaulting police.

He will be sentenced on July 16.

According to court documents, one of the officers tried to negotiate with him, asking his name and telling him several times to put his gun down.

He said "can you please do that" but Mokaraka laughed and said, "if I put it down I got nothing".

Focusing on the two officers in front of him he said, "I can only kill one of you, who's it gonna be". He looked at one, known as constable P1 and said, "Is it gonna be you" and then repeated the same thing to constable P3.

As he did so he appeared agitated and gestured with the weapon, thought to be a gun wrapped in a towel.

He raised a meat cleaver above his head and pointed what was believed to be the gun directly at constable P1 and began to run towards him.

Fearing for his life, the officer fired, striking him in the chest.

The stand-off was sparked when Mokaraka went to his neighbour's house and dialled 111, saying there was screaming coming from his house and he thought there were two or three people inside.

Police were diverted from traffic duties and given pistols and body armour when they met at a safe point close to Mokaraka's house.

When they approached the house they saw Mokaraka through the window holding the meat cleaver and the object covered with the towel. He was playing loud music and yelled "come and get me" or words to that effect. He appeared "very angry and agitated".

Surgeons at Auckland Hospital spent three hours removing the bullet from his chest.

Outside court yesterday he declined to comment. He was supported by his parents, whom he has lived with since the incident, and friends.

At the time of the shooting he had been working on writing projects but had performed to sell-out audiences in London with his play Strange Resting Places, a drama/comedy about the 28th Maori Battalion.

At an earlier court appearance Judge Mary Beth Sharp said something less than prison was the desired outcome but she would not rule out a custodial sentence.