Molenaar's body taken for postmortem

Napier gunman Jan Molenaar's body was removed from his house yesterday afternoon, as police announced the setting up of a trust fund for the family of the officer he killed.

Senior Constable Len Snee was shot dead on Thursday morning during what was supposed to be a routine drug raid at Molenaar's house in Chaucer Rd, on Napier Hill.

Molenaar also shot Snr Consts Bruce Miller and Grant Diver, and civilian Leonard Holmwood.

Snr Const Miller and Mr Holmwood remained in a critical condition in Hawkes Bay Hospital this afternoon, while Snr Const Diver was recovering in a general ward.

The shootings began a 50-hour siege in which police and Molenaar exchanged intermittent fire until Molenaar's dead body was discovered inside his home shortly before noon on Saturday.

Five police officers removed Molenaar's body from the house yesterday, wheeling it up the street on a trolley and putting it in a hearse.

The body was to be taken to Wellington for postmortem examination.

Superintendent Rod Drew, the officer in charge of the investigations into the shootings, said Molenaar had at least 18 firearms in his house and had also booby-trapped it with nails embedded in sticks, barbed wire and electrically wired door handles.

Cannabis plants were found in a room in the house set up to grow the drug and bags of cannabis, along with a sawn-off shotgun, were in the garage downstairs.

Supt Drew said after discovering the cannabis and firearm in the garage, Snr Const Diver went upstairs to find Snr Const Snee being confronted by Molenaar, who had the sawn-off rifle.

Snr Const Snee was then shot in the left hip and forearm and a third shot struck his upper body from the front.

Two of the shots were not survivable and his death would have been immediate, Supt Drew said.

Molenaar then shot Snr Consts Miller and Diver, who dragged themselves along the road to find cover as Molenaar chased and shot at them again.

Supt Drew praised the actions of Mr Holmwood (44), who grappled with Molenaar to try to stop him firing at the officers again, saying he might well have saved their lives.

Supt Drew said Molenaar was found dead in the main bedroom of his house following sporadic contact by phone with police negotiators the day before.

Early on Friday afternoon, Molenaar told his partner, Delwyn Keefe, he did not want to come out, did not want to go to jail for killing Snr Const Snee and "would do it his way".

A short time later, he sent a text to a close family member and five minutes later a single shot was heard from inside the house.

Police knew Molenaar had been wounded, but did not know if he was still alive, so adopted a cautious approach, firing gas canisters into the house in a bid to get a response, Supt Drew said.

A police marksman fired two shots at Molenaar about 12.20pm on Thursday, only a few hours after his fusillade of shots.

A volley of shots was fired at armed offenders squad members in a house nearby and when Molenaar pointed his semi-automatic rifle from a partly opened door leading on to the deck of his house, an officer fired two shots.

Molenaar "retracted" and there was a temporary lull in firing, Supt Drew said.

The following day he told a friend by phone he had been wounded but gave no details.

The police marksman's action had been fully investigated and fully complied with the law relating to self-defence and the defence of others, he said.

Police said a public trust fund had been set up with the Bank of New Zealand for Snr Const Snee's family and the other injured victims. -