Cigarette butts a potential clue to baby Kahu's kidnapping

By PATRICK GOWER, MONIQUE DEVEREUX and PAULA OLIVER

Cigarette butts taken from the scene of baby Kahu's kidnapping may be tested for DNA.

The painstaking week-long hunt for the 8-month-old girl has included picking up all material from around the Lower Hutt street and screening family mail for ransom demands.

Kahu, the adopted daughter of High Court judge Eddie Durie and lawyer Donna Hall, was taken from her pushchair by a gunman about 11.30am last Saturday less than a kilometre from her Myrtle St home.

The kidnapper drove off in a Mitsubishi car, thought to be either a late-model Sigma, V3000 or Magna.

There have been no confirmed sightings of the car, the gunman or the baby since.

Police enter day eight of their search for Kahu with a continued focus on finding the car.

Yesterday they posted a $10,000 reward for its recovery.

"If we find the car, that will lead us to baby Kahu," said Detective Inspector Stu Wildon.

The search has now stretched beyond the Wellington area, and police are interested in sightings of the vehicle anywhere in the country.

Asked why cigarette butts had been taken from the scene, Mr Wildon said police had collected several "miscellaneous items".

"The relevance of them at this stage we don't know. We'll be retaining them, and where necessary forensically examining them."

All personal mail to Justice Durie is being screened as police wait to hear from the kidnapper.

One of the country's top private investigators, Trevor Morley, is screening all mail addressed to Ms Hall's Lower Hutt chambers.

Yesterday, family members renewed their calls for the return of the child.

National MP Georgina te Heuheu, Kahu's godmother, said the family had "unswerving faith that this baby will be returned to their fold".

Ms Hall lost an unborn child about four years and was told a baby would be provided from the whanau. "The family said then, 'There will be a baby for you', and that enabled them to look forward and Kahu came to them," said Mrs te Heuheu.

Mason Durie, the brother of Justice Durie, said the whanau had been anguished by speculation that a family member might be involved in the kidnapping.

No one in the family would have a hand in it, he said.

"Would anyone in the family be capable of doing something like this? If there were, they're not someone I know."

Dr Durie, Professor of Maori Studies at Massey University, said there was no evidence to suggest revenge was behind the kidnapping.

Police have called on anyone who noticed suspicious behaviour before or after the kidnapping to come forward.

At least one woman has told police she saw a man who did not fit the kidnapper's description trying to avoid police attention immediately after the baby was taken.

June Ranson was in a car at the corner of St Albans Grove when a man wearing a brown beanie pulled in behind her and ducked down.

"He had a big grin on his face. He was ducking down and the police were missing him.

"His description doesn't match, but why couldn't he have been some sort of lookout or something?"

More than 900 calls have been made to the police hotline.

Some have come from criminals known to police, some were hoaxes, and others have been from people volunteering to help to search or answer phones.

Some callers have suggested people who fit the kidnapper's limited description.

Mr Wildon said he had called on police around the country, including organised crime squads and gang liaison units, to check records and suggest potential suspects.

He expected to hear from the kidnapper soon, and suggested that he contact police through a lawyer.

Flier distributed by police

Description of suspect

Picture: Kahurautete Durie

Picture: Kahurautete's clothing

Picture: the car being sought by police

Map

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