Holtom, the database showed, had bought the gun found at the scene of the police shooting less than two weeks earlier. He appeared to be a frequent customer at a Gun City store in Penrose, having bought nine Dickinson XX3 12-gauge shotguns and three Citadel Trakr .22 rifles - a haul worth thousands of dollars - in just a five-month period starting in February last year.
Four days after the shooting, police were knocking on the door of Holtom’s home with a search warrant.
“A firearms safe was located in his bedroom but no firearms were located inside,” court documents state.
When asked to explain the dozen missing firearms, Holtom claimed it was all above board. He had sold them all to a businessman with a valid firearms licence, he said, explaining that the man had bought all 12 just days earlier for $15,000 cash. The other man had an opossum skinning business and intended to distribute the firearms to his crew, Holtom said.
When asked to identify the mystery businessman, Holtom described him as a “half-caste Māori male” who he had met at a Penrose service station a month earlier. Holtom said he had recorded the sales on the back of a receipt but he believed that the paper had since been stolen from his vehicle. The man’s mobile number was also written on the missing receipt, he claimed.
He described the sale to police as having taken place on the side of the road in Ōnehunga, after having arranged the deal by ringing the man from a phone box - although he couldn’t remember which one.
When shown a photo of the man who was shot by police, Holtom said he didn’t recognise him.
Police were dubious of his claims. He was arrested.
“Notwithstanding Mr Holtom’s claims about selling his firearms to a legitimate firearms licence holder, police continued their investigation into the whereabouts of the firearms that Mr Holtom had purchased,” court documents state.
An investigation codenamed Operation Dickinson was launched, and others were arrested following an analysis of text message data.
The act of licensed firearms holders purchasing guns for those who aren’t allowed to have guns is known as retail diversion, or serving as a “straw buyer”. Straw buyers in New Zealand often resell the guns for a steep cash profit to those in the criminal underworld, officials have previously told the Herald.
Police have devoted extra resources to such schemes in recent years with the establishment of the Firearms Investigations Team, a group of investigators modelled after Australian specialist teams. Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Beal, who leads the specialist squad, told the Herald earlier this year the “vast majority” of guns recovered by police appear to be the result of retail diversion.
“There’s a lot of rumours around where gangs get their guns from: importing them in bulk by sea, manufacturing them, burglaries and so on,” he said. “...The criminal element doesn’t need to look any further - importing, etc - because diversion is such a simple option.
“...We’re seeing how easy it is for one individual with a firearms licence to create a great deal of mayhem.”
During Holtom’s hearing late last week, he pleaded guilty to one count involving the illegal supply of 12 firearms to a non-licence holder; 10 counts of possession of firearms for an unlawful purpose; and one count of removing a serial number from a firearm. Prosecutors opted not to pursue allegations that he participated in an organised criminal group.
He could face up to four years’ imprisonment when sentenced in December before Judge June Jelas.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
