Baby snatcher spoke to mother

9.30am

Police continued a desperate search today for the baby daughter of a Wellington High Court judge and his lawyer wife snatched at gunpoint in Lower Hutt on Saturday morning.

A man kidnapped eight-month-old Kahurautete (Kahu) Durie, the adopted daughter of Justice Eddie Durie and prominent Maori lawyer Donna Hall.

As police scoured the city for the child today they said the offender spoke to Ms Hall before taking the child and driving off.

A Pakeha man wielding what appeared to be a double-barrelled shotgun approached Ms Hall and two of her nieces, aged 12 and 14, who were walking Kahu in her pushchair on St Albans Grove about 11.30am.

After grabbing the child the man drove off in a two-toned Mitsubishi, possibly a Gallant, registration UL3802.

Checks on the plates showed they were reported stolen from Auckland several years ago.

Detective Inspector Stuart Wildon, the officer in charge of the case, said today the man said something to Ms Hall.

"He took possession of the pram and baby Kahu from it and then drove off down St Albans Grove," he told One News.

"There were words spoken. We need to review what we've been told by the nieces and Donna Hall but certainly there were some words spoken by him whilst he was holding the firearm at them," he said.

No further information on Kahu's whereabouts came to light overnight but police were confident someone had information on the case.

There had been several calls to a phone line since last night and police were to examine those today.

The snatch appeared to have been carefully planned and police were constructing a profile of the man.

"Certainly this offender has taken some time to plan what he has done. Whether he has planned specifically with the Duries in mind, we don't know," he told National Radio.

"We don't know if this person's a loner or not. We'll hopefully get a better picture as we build his profile. It's more than likely that someone out there knows who he is, someone will have some information.

"It's not only the offender, it's those other people that we're appealing to that might be able to help us."

The man was described as a slim built Caucasian in his late 30s or early 40s. He was either balding or had closely cropped greying hair, and was wearing black jeans and a black jacket.

The motive was not known but police are investigating the possibility it was a ransom situation or revenge on Kahu's high profile parents.

"We will be (investigating links with their work). The family are widely known in the community but we need to keep an open mind on motive and that's one of the things we'll be doing," he said.

But police were confident of finding leads, as witness descriptions were clear.

"I think in this particular case, we are fortunate that we have a description of the offender and his car. That being the case, the focus, certainly for the first two or three days, is to locate that vehicle," Mr Wildon said.

"That is where my focus has been. What we've started doing though, is building a profile of what the offender might be like, and we'll be getting some advice in that regard."

But the more time that passed, the more worry there was for the little girl's safety and the offender's intentions.

The offender had made no contact so far and police did not know if a ransom demand was likely.

"But we've got to remain positive and optimistic. We've got a strong team and we're very keen to resolve this as soon as we can," Mr Wildon said.

He had asked Ms Hall and Justice Durie to "put their minds together" to think of any possible suspects who might have a grudge against them.

Police had "cast the net very wide" in their search for the little girl who still cannot crawl and has a noticeable birthmark on her chin.

At least 50 police were on the case and recruits from police college had helped door-knock at homes in the area.

Mr Wildon said Ms Hall might make a public plea today for the return of her baby.

Ms Hall, speaking through the police, last night appealed to the kidnapper to return her baby.

"Please, just wrap her up warmly and deliver her to somewhere where there are people and she will be quickly found," she said.

"She can't crawl, she needs regular feeding. She needs to be warm and cared for."

After the snatch yesterday, Ms Hall screamed to passersby : "He's taken my baby."

Baby Kahu was wearing a navy blue, one-piece suit with a dark pink skivvy underneath.

She also had a light pink hooded jacket, with a distinctive hood with rabbit ears attached to it. The jacket buttons were dog paws.

- NZPA

Full coverage: Baby Kahurautete kidnapping

Picture: Kahurautete Durie

Picture: Kahurautete's clothing

Picture: the car being sought by police

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