By PATRICK GOWER
Schoolboy killer Daniel Luff realised the enormity of his crime through the baby son of his victim, Detective Constable Duncan Taylor.
In the High Court at Palmerston North yesterday afternoon, Luff admitted shooting Mr Taylor dead. He pleaded guilty to murder, the attempted murder of Detective Jeanette Park and a raft of other charges.
In the days immediately after the July 5 shooting, 17-year-old Luff could think only of former girlfriend Stephanie Cocker, whose family he held hostage for four hours while Mr Taylor's body lay outside their farmhouse on Taipo Rd near Awahuri, about 19km north of Palmerston North.
Luff had been stalking Stephanie, 17, since their relationship broke up. He was armed with a shotgun when he was chased into the Cockers' Manawatu farmhouse by the two police officers.
In an interview with the Weekend Herald last night, his mother, Tracey, described her son's reaction when she first saw him in police custody after the siege.
"He said to me: 'Do you think she'll understand now Mum - do you think she'll know how much I love her?"'
Ms Luff said the decision to plead guilty was made on Thursday and the family had wanted to keep it from the public glare.
"He knows what he's done. To protect his teenage mind he's been blocking it out, but it was better to get it over and done with rather than fobbing it off for a long time. Hearing him say that one word 'guilty' has made us all realise."
Ms Luff said her son was realising the consequences of the killing "in stages".
He was initially in a catatonic state, just rocking and muttering about Stephanie. But then he made a reference to 1-year-old Campbell Taylor.
"He was going through this stage of calling me Ma, and one time he says: 'He had a baby ma, he had a baby'."
Since then Luff had spoken more and more to Ms Luff of the baby as he came to terms with the crime.
"He talks a lot about Duncan's little boy. That's something he can relate to, a little boy growing up without a father."
Luff's father, a drug addict, has spent most of his life in jail and they have met only a couple of times. Daniel has lived mainly with his mother or extended family.
As well as the murder and attempted murder charges, Luff pleaded guilty to an aggravated burglary and the unlawful detention of Robert and Christine Cocker at the farmhouse on Taipo Rd.
He also admitted shooting at Detective Tony Heathcote during the siege, and a burglary at Long Melford Rd on the day of the shooting.
Ms Luff said that, however bizarre it sounded, her son did not wish to hurt anyone, despite how it turned out.
She said he still held strong feelings for Stephanie, although the police had banned the two communicating.
"The way he talks, he will always love Stephanie. He says she is the only one, but I think he realises it will never happen."
Ms Luff said Daniel had been held in segregation in Wanganui's Kaitoke prison since his arrest, for his own physical safety and because other prisoners cheered him on whenever they saw him.
In one transfer for a remand appearance at the Palmerston North court, Luff travelled with the Mongrel Mob members accused of murdering 16-year-old Black Power member Wallace Whatuira, who offered him a "patch".
"It really frightens Daniel when he gets cheered for killing a cop. He doesn't like it and the prison staff don't either."
Ms Luff said Daniel was "like a fish out of water" in prison, but had recently come out of the at-risk unit, although he was still subjected to hourly checks.
Although initially not allowed even a pen in his cell, he now reads, writes letters and listens to a radio.
Ms Luff believed that one day her son and Stephanie Cocker should face each other. "Not just for him, but for her, so she has no fears about what Daniel's going to do when he gets out ... it would help speed the recovery process up for both of them."
Police said Mr Taylor's wife, Melanie, who was focusing on coping with the loss of her husband and caring for her young son, was relieved.
Jeanette Park's father, Bruce, said she was "doing very well indeed" since the tragic events of July. She was "very happy" that Luff had pleaded guilty.
Constable Park has returned to work and plans to attend a memorial service for Constable Taylor at Porirua Police College next week. would make no public comment until Luff was sentenced.nte
Luff will be sentenced in the High Court at Palmerston North on September 18.
Baby prompts killer's guilty plea
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