Shotgun raiders' night of menace

By Tony Wall and Stacy Bodger

A man stroked a shotgun and described how he would make a mess of three friends during a terrifying kidnapping ordeal in Howick.

Police believe the same gunman, his companion and a third man the two picked up later went on to rob a Waikato hotel of $10,000 in cash after commandeering their victims' car on Saturday night.

The dangerous trio were still on the loose late last night.

Police issued an alert to all staff in the Waikato and Auckland to look out for the men - described by one of their victims as "psychos."

Police believe the hijacking of the car in Howick at 7.45 pm on Saturday was linked to the robbery of the Putaruru Hotel seven hours later.

As police raced to the hotel, they found the black Toyota Celica hatchback stolen from Howick burning by the side of the road.

The car's owner, bank worker Kris Keeman, said he had been sitting in the vehicle with two friends, Richard Burns and Neil Haine, in the Howickville Mall car park when a man suddenly pointed a sawn-off shotgun through the window.

The friends were ordered into the back of the car, then driven around the Howick area by the gunman and another man.

The shotgun was kept trained on the terrified young men.

"He had his finger on the trigger the whole time ... he was constantly stroking the gun. He was a real psycho," said Mr Keeman.

"He said: 'If I shoot this gun it will make a great big hole in the back of the car and make a great big mess of you.'"

Mr Keeman thought he was going to die when the men pulled into a vacant subdivision and ordered him and his friends to get out and get down on their hands and knees.

The men rifled through the friends' pockets, taking their wallets, keys and cellphones.

"I thought they were going to shoot us. It was shocking. But they made us stand up and start walking so we all started walking while they were behind us with the gun - they made us walk about 20m, then jumped in the car and took off."

About 2.50 am, three masked men with a sawn-off shotgun pounced on barman Colin French at the Putaruru Hotel as he finished locking the night's takings in a safe.

Mr French said the intruders forced him back into the office, triggering an alarm.

As he turned off the alarm, he secretly activated a distress signal.

He was then tied and gagged with a sock and his own beanie. The men made off with about $10,000.

"They spoke pretty tough and told me not to muck them around."

Inspector Bill Harrison, of the police northern communications centre, said: "They are very serious incidents that but for the grace of God did not become homicides."

The Howick kidnappers were Maori or Pacific Islanders aged in their late 20s. One wore a black bandana and the other a black beanie.

The descriptions of the men in the hotel holdup were more vague but they were believed to be Polynesian.