A coroner's inquest has thrown new light on how armed police chasing a P-crazed gunman accidentally shot dead an innocent driver.
"A trail of misery" is how a High Court judge described Stephen Hohepa McDonald's hour-long rampage through Auckland.
Fuelled by methamphetamine, McDonald broke into three different homes, pointed a gun at bystanders, stole cars and led a police on a high-speed pursuit at up to 160km/h in suburban streets.
It
ended with the accidental death of 17-year-old Halatau Naitoko, the first time New Zealand police had shot and killed an innocent bystander.
In sentencing McDonald to 13 years in prison, Justice Rhys Harrison said he was "in no doubt" that McDonald - not the police - was responsible for Halatau's death.
This week, a coroner's inquest attempted to paint a clearer picture of the tragic chain of events on January 23, 2009.
Barrister Todd Simmonds has gently led his clients, Officers A81 and A84, through often-emotional evidence, alongside senior Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins, who represents the police as an organisation.
Chris Morris asks questions on behalf of the coroner, Gordon Matenga, while Colin Pidgeon, QC, grills the police on their actions on behalf of Halatau's family.
Listening to it all is Halatau's mother, Ivoni Fuimaono, who has shed many tears as the court has been told of the events leading to her son's death.
About 1pm that day, two plain-clothes officers saw a stolen blue Toyota Corsa being driven erratically outside a West Auckland address.
Margaret Mann, 19, was driving, with McDonald in the passenger seat with a sawn-off Ruger .22 rifle.
The pair didn't stop when the police turned on their lights and sirens, and McDonald took the steering wheel.
He fled at speed along West Coast Rd before beginning an hour-long game of cat-and-mouse with police. The 50-year-old abandoned the car, waving the firearm at bystanders and police officers, and even fired at the police Eagle helicopter overhead.
He broke into three homes on Glendale Rd before taking the keys to a Hyundai. By this time, several police cars were in pursuit at speeds of up to 120km/h on West Coast Rd, until McDonald abandoned that car on Nikau St and took a Nissan Skyline.
All this time, he was pointing the rifle at police officers and bystanders.
He raced along Great North Rd towards downtown Auckland, which was where Constable Karl Pennington joined the pursuit convoy.
The armed offenders squad dog handler described following McDonald at up to 160km/h as he weaved across busy main roads through Mt Albert, Sandringham, Kingsland, Grey Lynn and Ponsonby.
By this time, members of the AOS were being kitted up and briefed in the Auckland Central station.
Officers A81 and A84 - who gave evidence behind closed doors this week - were told the target was an "active shooter" in a speeding vehicle. If necessary, the pair were tasked as the cut-off car to force McDonald off the road.
A second car, containing Officers A80, A87 and A77, would follow behind to arrest him. A81 and A84 saw the stolen Skyline fishtail as it turned from Ponsonby Rd onto Hopetoun St bridge, turned around and followed the pursuit onto the Northwestern Motorway heading west.
Officer 84 told the inquest that McDonald was weaving over all the lanes on the motorway, while pointing the rifle back towards the chasing police cars.
Police performed a rolling block of vehicles to prevent westbound traffic from getting caught up in the case.
The badly damaged Skyline began to slow down and came to a halt between the Bond St overbridge and the St Lukes off-ramp. The driver's door flung open and McDonald emerged with the firearm in his right hand. Officers A81 and A84 climbed out of their car as McDonald mounted the median barrier, moving low and quickly among the oncoming traffic.
Cars were screeching to a halt to avoid McDonald, who was trying to hi-jack vehicles as they slowed down.
One of those vehicles was the Toyota courier van driven by Halatau.
The gunman moved on. At the inquest, Mr Pennington broke down in tears as he described locking eyes with the teenage boy seconds later. "His eyes were like saucers ... I thought he was in pain. It was like he wanted to get out. We looked at each other and he looked absolutely petrified."
Meanwhile, McDonald was trying to open the passenger door of an Isuzu truck driven by Richard Neville.
"Running through my mind was that the driver could be shot and killed or seriously injured," said Officer A84.
McDonald was moving around, but in A84's sights. The officer fired three times but missed, and he climbed onto the back of the flat-bed truck.
At that point, McDonald raised his gun and pointed it at A81. The officer fired first. "I thought he was going to shoot me and I feared for my life. No other tactical options were appropriate when I fired at him," said A81.
However, the truck driver suddenly braked, causing McDonald to lose his balance.
At the same time, Halatau's courier van pulled up behind vehicles stopped in his lane, coming into the line of fire.
McDonald was arrested and Officer A84 learned soon after that Halatau had been killed.
"I had mixed emotions. My heart sank and I felt sick. I felt terrible and thought it was the offender who had shot the person in the van," said Officer A84.
"I thought I had not done my job properly as the offender had killed the guy in the van before we incapacitated, disarmed and arrested him."
A post-mortem the following day revealed a police bullet killed Halatau. A few weeks later, it was determined that Officer A84 fired the fatal shot.
Asked to explain how it happened, Officer A84 said: "I believe it was because everything was moving - the truck was moving, McDonald was moving, I was moving."
A homicide inquiry headed by Detective Inspector Pete Devoy concluded that charges should not be laid against A81 and A84.
That decision was backed by a senior police lawyer and reviewed by Queen's Counsel John Haigh.
Mr Devoy said: "They [the officers] believed their field of fire was clear and they could shoot McDonald without any danger to anybody else.
"I consider officers A81 and A84 showed great bravery and disregard for their own personal safety."
