An officer is in a serious condition after being struck by a vehicle in Manukau earlier Wednesday evening before a 21km cross-city pursuit made its way north to central Auckland. Video / Hayden Woodward / Ainslie McLean
With his broken body contorted into an unnatural position, his breathing increasingly laboured and shock setting in, Constable Zane Wienk realised it was probably the end of the line for him - he was about to become a statistic, New Zealand’s 34th officer slain in the line of duty.
He asked his colleague to hold his hand.
“Tell my family I love them,” he instructed.
It was a Wednesday evening last November, and Wienk had been hit by a stolen SUV that had purposely swerved into him at an estimated 50km/h as the officer tried to deploy road spikes - launching Wienk into the air before his body slammed into a tree trunk and came to a rest face down an estimated four to five metres away.
Behind the wheel, authorities would later learn, was Matthew Saunoa - a former New Zealand Idol winner turned 501 deportee who had squandered his talent and flash of fame through meth addiction. At the moment, though, Saunoa was still driving erratically through the streets of Auckland - putting other lives at risk and causing the closure of two motorways as he tried to avoid arrest for another 20 minutes.
Details of the harrowing experience, which the constable described as “the most vulnerable and lowest point in my life”, were revealed for the first time this week, along with the long-suppressed identities of both men.
Matthew Saunoa, former New Zealand Idol contestant, appears in the Manukau District Court for sentencing. Photo / Alex Burton
“I felt myself starting to talk less and less as my breathing became more difficult,” Wienk recalled yesterday in Manukau District Court, which was filled to capacity with uniformed colleagues and other supporters.
“I thought I was going to die and had a flurry of moments flash before my eyes - of the moments I had lived and the moments I would never get to experience. I was dismayed that I would die here, lying on the streets of Manukau.”
After the officer’s victim impact statement, Saunoa, 38, was sentenced to six years and seven months’ imprisonment for aggravated grievous bodily harm and a slew of lesser charges.
The constable’s assessment of the graveness of the situation that night hadn’t been wrong.
His femur was badly broken, his pelvis shattered into eight pieces, broken ribs had punctured both lungs, his liver was lacerated and he suffered a number of other broken bones. His collapsed lungs were smothering his aorta and cutting off blood supply - a deadly condition if not quickly spotted and treated.
It was only a split-second decision by the attending paramedic to treat that condition first that, in hindsight, probably saved his life, he revealed yesterday.
At the hospital, Wienk was put in an induced coma and his loved ones didn’t know if he’d make it through the night. Since then, he’s undergone four surgeries in his ongoing, still very painful fight for recovery.
“I push through the pain because I refuse to accept the defendant having any role in the way I live my life and refuse to give up on the career I know and love,” Wienk said as he faced off with Saunoa. “I will make it back to the frontline despite you and your seeming hatred for me and the organisation I represent.
“I hope to make it back to the frontline before the end of the year, though I am told this goal is aspirational.”
Life in freefall
Saunoa moved to Australia’s Gold Coast in 2007 at age 22 - the height of his celebrity. Just a year earlier, he had taken the top spot in Idol, with his single Hold Out reaching the top of the New Zealand Singles Chart.
He went on to compete on short-lived TVNZ 2 reality series Pop’s Ultimate Star the following year, earning a third-place finish, but was never offered a full recording contract. The move to the Gold Coast was aimed at both keeping his music career going and, his family hoped, giving him a fresh start as he battled his demons behind the scenes.
He seemed to thrive in the new environment until 2016, when he was arrested for domestic violence and the mother of his children left him, causing his life to spiral out of control, lawyers said this week.
He began to accumulate property and drug crimes, along with failures to appear in court, at an alarming rate. By 2020, a judge in Australia had had enough, sentencing him to 13 months’ imprisonment for nearly 30 offences.
Saunoa found himself involuntarily back in New Zealand in May 2021 after receiving a one-way ticket from Australia. Branded a 501 and with no job prospects and little support, he nonetheless worked hard to kick his addiction upon returning home, defence lawyer Amy Jordan said.
“He was trying to do better,” she said.
Matthew Saunoa beat Indira Moala to win the title of NZ Idol 2006.
But Saunoa, who had hidden his methamphetamine abuse since the age of 13, fell back to his old habits after several months and began relying on burglaries and theft to support his addiction. Despite efforts to avoid detection, he was once again finding himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
During an October 20, 2021, burglary at AIC Tower in Central Auckland, he left behind blood after smashing a window and pilfering an EFTPOS machine, drivers’ licences, credit cards and paperwork. He also left blood at a Queen St hotel whose conference room was stripped of computer monitors and kitchen items.
Just a week later, he pulled off his biggest heist: the burglary of Whitecliffe College, which was closed at the time due to Auckland’s continuing Covid-19 lockdown. Over the course of two nights, he took high-value film equipment - causing a loss of $88,000 to the college due to missing items and property damage. Although Saunoa covered his face during the college thefts, he didn’t adequately cover his distinctive tattoos, which were recorded on CCTV. DNA analysis of a juice bottle left at the crime scene also pointed detectives to him.
He was linked to another commercial building burglary in November and was arrested on December 30, after police noticed him driving a stolen Ford Focus in Auckland Domain. He drove into oncoming traffic to avoid police and kept driving after hitting the rear bumper of a police vehicle, but he was apprehended after dumping the car near Victoria Park Markets.
He was on bail for those offences the following February when he broke a window at another Central Auckland commercial building, taking an estimated $15,000 worth of items.
“He realised his life was again in freefall,” his lawyer said.
Reckless driving, intentional swerve
Saunoa’s final batch of legal troubles, culminating in the near-death of Constable Wienk, began on November 8 last year when a customer at a Pt Chevalier Indian takeaway left his keys in the ignition of his SsangYong Rexton SUV while picking up a food order.
Saunoa, who at that point was living in a lodge roughly 250 metres away, drove off in the vehicle - hiding it in a parking garage and switching the plates.
Police noticed the stolen vehicle near Botany Town Centre at 7.20 the following evening and quickly tried to deploy spikes, but Saunoa made a U-turn and evaded it.
Over the next hour his driving would become increasingly erratic, reaching speeds of up to 100km/h as he ran red lights and veered into oncoming traffic. There were two other attempts to deploy spikes. The defendant drove around one set, and another officer aborted his attempt when Saunoa veered slightly towards him.
At around 7.47pm, Constables Wienk and Jagmeet Parmer were leaving Manukau Police Station after a long but rewarding day that had involved a serious arrest. Wienk - a young, gregarious and tall officer who cut an imposing figure in uniform - had already told his mates he’d be late to their planned basketball game because of overtime work, so he was initially relieved when he heard the vehicle was headed in the opposite direction. But then the pair heard over the radio that the car had pulled another sudden U-turn and was headed their way.
“Jag and I instantly agreed it was a case of see something, do something,” Wienk later explained. “Jag pulled to the side of the road and I grabbed the spikes.”
The pair hid behind trees directly across from Rainbow’s End and stepped out to throw the spikes across the road as Saunoa’s stolen vehicle approached.
The Serious Crash Unit attends Manukau Station Road after an officer deploying road spikes was struck by the vehicle being tracked by police. Photo / Hayden Woodward
“When the defendant saw Constable Wienk, he began to veer left, away from him,” according to the agreed summary of facts for the case. “The defendant suddenly swerved right and drove deliberately into Constable Wienk at a speed of 50 to 55km/h, mounting the grass median as he did so.”
The constable noted in court that Saunoa had been driving “recklessly but with some skill” prior to hitting him.
“Instead of swerving to the left and attempting to avoid my spiking attempt by driving into the next lane, he made the deliberate choice to drive at me,” the officer said. “It is a miracle I can walk and talk, yet alone survived.”
Immense and overwhelming pain
Despite the shock of what had just happened, the minutes that followed remain seared in Wienk’s brain.
“I never knew anyone could endure so much pain and remain conscious,” he said.
He recalled the SUV’s impact on his body and the thud as he hit the ground, although he doesn’t remember slamming violently into the tree.
“I now refer to it as my tree and am reminded of the incident every time I drive past on my way to Manukau Police Station,” he said. “I’m sure I will remember that tree for the rest of my life.”
After hitting the ground, he was immediately worried that his partner had also been hit but was relieved when Parmer ran over to help. He rolled onto his back and pulled off his body armour.
“When I opened my eyes on the ground, I knew I wasn’t in a good way but attempted to reassure both myself and J that I could wiggle my toes on both feet, so I mustn’t have any bad spinal injuries,” he recalled. “In an attempt to breathe better, I attempted to bend my knees and discovered my left leg had buckled halfway down the femur and was hanging to the left at a 60-degree angle.
“The immense and overwhelming pain coming from my broken femur became the only pain.”
He screamed.
“At some point, I started to feel a trickling sensation in my lower body and felt my breathing become more laboured and difficult,” he recalled, explaining that it was around that point that he asked his partner to hold his hand and relay the final message to his family.
He was rushed to Middlemore Hospital, where he would spend the next seven weeks.
Upon waking up from his induced coma in the intensive care unit days later, Wienk recalled seeing his parents and his partner in tears.
“One day I may be able to forgive you for the injuries you have inflicted on me and the pain I suffer every day as a result,” he told Saunoa yesterday. “I will never forgive you for making my family cry over me.”
He now has a titanium rod in his femur, 15 screws in his pelvis and a titanium plate in his right knee.
It may take years for him to walk properly again, and he is almost certainly going to experience ongoing pain, court documents state. Wienk acknowledged as much in court yesterday, describing to Saunoa the prescription opioid addiction that developed over the past year and the hell of withdrawal as he decided to quit cold turkey.
Saunoa’s capture
Saunoa would keep driving that night until 8.09pm, speeding in the wrong direction on State Highway 1 before ditching the vehicle on an overpass near Central Auckland and running on foot across SH1 and State Highway 16.
The Police Eagle helicopter had been tracking him.
In his panic, he reverted to habit and forced his way into a locked office building on Khyber Pass Rd.
“He damaged a number of doors while trying to find a place to hide,” court documents state. “He climbed up a ladder into the roof cavity but at some point fell through the ceiling, causing extensive damage.
“...A police dog tracked the defendant to a room on the third floor. When police forced the door open, the defendant rushed out swinging his arms and threw an object at police. The defendant had to be restrained by a police dog and tasered.”
Saunoa asked if the officer was alright as he was arrested.
“I didn’t mean to,” he said when asked why he ran over the constable. “I’m f***ed. I can’t even hurt my enemies.”
Matthew Saunoa won the third series of New Zealand Idol in 2006. Photo / TVNZ
His question about the officer’s condition, when paired with a letter of apology Saunoa submitted to the court, shows genuine remorse, his lawyer argued yesterday. She sought discounts off his end sentence for his guilty pleas, remorse and for traumatic events in his childhood that led to his early drug addiction.
“He has lived the life of an addict for a long time,” Jordan said, referring to his NZ Idol win as “a lonely highlight” in a life filled with setbacks.
Saunoa wiped a tear from behind his glasses as his lawyer explained he had been suicidal the day he fled police. He had taken the stolen vehicle to the last place he had seen his children, who he no longer has custody of, when officers first spotted him, she said.
Crown prosecutor Ned Fletcher argued against extensive sentence discounts other than for his guilty pleas.
“Little weight can be put on Mr Saunoa asking after the event if Constable Wienk was okay. He clearly didn’t stop to check if he was okay,” Fletcher said, adding that a deterrent sentence was needed given the fact it was a deliberate and violent attack on a police officer trying to do his duty.
“It’s the sort of offending that sends shockwaves through police and through the community,” he said.
Judge Ngaroma Tahana accepted that Saunoa feels remorse.
“You struggle daily with the fact you hurt a police officer,” she said, citing a report prepared for the sentencing hearing.
But she also noted “an alarming escalation of offending and convictions” stretching back over the past seven years. Everyone involved, including Saunoa, is fortunate “we’re not dealing with a fatality in this case”, she noted.
Before announcing her sentence, she wished Wienk a positive recovery and expressed hope that Saunoa might also address his underlying issues.
‘You are dangerous’
During his victim impact statement, the constable noted that Saunoa had tried recovery before and it failed in spectacular fashion.
Wienk said he found the information on Saunoa’s own Facebook page, which he looked up while recovering in hospital.
“Matthew, I found out you won New Zealand Idol - an amazing achievement,” he said. “I watched some of your old performances and still can’t reconcile that someone with so much natural talent and opportunity would do something so horrific to another person.”
He noted that in August 2022 Saunoa had claimed to have climbed an “impossible mountain” thanks to Narcotics Anonymous and was then “two months clean and serene”.
“Two months later you would run me down in cold blood while high on meth in a stolen car.
“...I believe he should be held to account for what he has done to myself and my family, not only as punishment but as a deterrent to the many people who would do police officers harm without a second thought, like you did. I believe you are dangerous, and your freedom provides a net negative to society.”
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.
