Former hostage, rescuer meet 31 years after Oamaru incident

Norm McLeod and Jansen reunite after 31 years. Photo / Supplied

A reunion 31 years in the making has brought Norm McLeod full circle.

In November 1990, McLeod was a negotiator in a hostage incident in Oamaru's Wye St, talking a man into putting down the knife he had used to stab his wife and two children, and convincing him to let them go.

Last year, McLeod, who now lives in Gisborne, received a message from one of the children involved in the incident, asking if he was the man who "lifted something off my father" 31 years ago.

It was a profound moment for McLeod, who had thought he would never see the girl again. Jansen, who asked that her surname not be used, was just 2 years old at the time of the incident.

"It was an incredible feeling," he said.

"It was like, now the next part of the story is going to play out. She survived for a reason and her story can help lots of women."

On Monday, through a "few tears and hugs", McLeod and his wife, Jess, met Jansen, who now lives in Timaru, for the first time.

Together, they shared their struggles and life stories, and McLeod could hardly believe "this is really happening".

"I just saw a beautiful young woman. It was [like] a member of my family. To me she's like ... a daughter, she wasn't like a stranger or anything."

Jansen could not remember a lot from the incident, which was a "blessing", and McLeod was able to fill in the missing pieces.

In November 1990, McLeod, who also lived in Wye St, was at home when a friend brought Jansen's mother into his home.

She had been stabbed, and when they explained her husband was holding the children — Jansen and her older sister — hostage, McLeod, who described himself a matakite (someone who can see into the spiritual world), sensed he was going to be called to help.

McLeod, an associate pastor at Elim Church at the time, knew the man involved. He wandered his back garden doing a karakia, before the police visited and said the man refused to speak with them, or the Maori warden, but would speak to McLeod.

When he entered the home — "like A Nightmare on Elm Street" — the man was standing at the top of the stairs with a knife, and his two daughters were behind him. Jansen was already injured, but her sister was not hurt.

McLeod said he understood what the man, who had also stabbed himself, was saying when others could not, and something triggered him to drop the knife.

He ran to the man, hugged him, and then noticed Jansen lying on the ground badly wounded. He began performing a karakia over her body, and was told the 2-year-old girl's injuries were critical and she would not "survive the night" in Dunedin Hospital.

The next day, he drove to Dunedin not knowing if Jansen was alive, and when he arrived at the hospital, she was sitting in her bed drinking a milkshake "happy as".

"I couldn't believe it was the same kid. It was like there was some sort of presence protecting her from the trauma."

It felt as though he witnessed "a series of miracles" as Jansen's mother and father also both survived their injuries.

The man was later charged with attempted murder and two counts of wounding with intent.

After that, McLeod lost touch with the family.

He once tried to find Jansen through Oamaru friends, but had no luck and decided to let her be.

Meeting again after all these years had been surreal, he said.

Jansen planned to stay connected with McLeod, who is now a senior pastor at the House of Breakthrough Church, and visit him in Gisborne in the future.