'I thought I would die', says constable

Constable Jeremy Snow told the court he was determined to survive. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Constable Jeremy Snow could feel the blood pumping out of the gunshot wound in his leg as he lay on the ground, and thought he would die.

Mr Snow re-lived that moment yesterday as he stood in the witness box and told the High Court at Auckland how Neshanderan Rajgopaul shot him four times at close range.

Rajgopaul was sentenced to 18 years in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years yesterday.

He had earlier been found guilty of attempting to murder Mr Snow, one charge of firing a weapon with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, three charges of unlawfully possessing a firearm, and one charge each of possessing a class A drug for supply and receiving stolen property.

Mr Snow had been in the police for only 11 months when he and his partner, Constable Robert Cato, were on a routine patrol in the early hours of December 22, 2009.

The pair saw a car in a Papatoetoe driveway that they believed was being broken into and decided to investigate.

Mr Snow came across Rajgopaul attempting to hide behind a tree.

He said yesterday he still remembered seeing the muzzle of Rajgopaul's gun flash and feeling his left arm being hit. Two other shots hit him in his legs and another lodged in his police notebook before Mr Snow found himself on the ground.

"I began thinking about dying. I wasn't ready to die."

He said he calmed himself down. "I thought: 'Okay, what do I have to do to survive?"'

Mr Snow said he checked his right leg and elbow for injuries and found blood soaking through his police uniform. But it was his left leg that was critical. "I could feel the blood pumping out."

He said as he lay on the ground his thoughts turned to the shooter who he had seen running down the side of the house. He said he feared Rajgopaul would return to finish him off.

He gave a description of the shooter over his police radio because he did not want Rajgopaul to get away.

Mr Snow said police colleagues got to him and lifted him into a police car to take him to hospital.

Once at hospital, Mr Snow underwent eight hours of surgery which included an operation on his femoral artery that had been cut.

Coming to, he remembers telling his mother, "I'm not quitting," because he knew his mother would ask him to leave the police.

After weeks recovering in hospital and more weeks at home, Mr Snow is still six months away from frontline duties. He said he suffers from anxiety, still struggles to sleep at night and often wakes about 4am - the time that he was shot.

"I think about the shooting and the different scenarios ... what if I had a gun, what could I have done?"

He said he could forgive Rajgopaul if he admitted to what he had done.

Justice Patrick Keane said in his sentencing that he found it remarkable that Mr Snow could possibly forgive.

He gave Rajgopaul the maximum 14 years for the attempted murder charge.

He told Rajgopaul: "You could only have one intent and that was to kill him. You almost succeeded."

He said if it hadn't been for Mr Snow's police notebook in his stab proof vest, Mr Snow could have died.

Rajgopaul's lawyer, Ron Mansfield, asked the judge to take into account that the shooter did not return to kill Mr Snow, despite knowing the officer was wounded. Outside court, he said Rajgopaul would appeal against the conviction and sentence. "He vehemently maintains his innocence."

Mr Snow's mother, Colleen Snow, told the Herald: "I'm glad it's over." She declined to comment further.

Parents also victims, says Judge

The parents of convicted cop shooter Neshanderan Rajgopaul brought their son and his sister out to New Zealand for a "better chance at life".

Justice Patrick Keane read a letter from Rajgopaul's mother and father to the High Court at Auckland before sentencing him to 18 years for the attempted murder of Constable Jeremy Snow and eight other charges.

Justice Keane said Rajgopaul's offending was "irreconcilable" with the values instilled in him by his parents.

"I regard them and your sister as victims of your offending."

Rajgopaul's mother and father sat through his five-week trial.

Justice Keane told the court that the couple had brought Rajgopaul and his sister out from South Africa for a better life.

At his trial, the Crown described Rajgopaul as a "smalltime drug dealer".

As well as the attempted murder charge, the jury also found him guilty of discharging a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, three charges of unlawfully possessing a firearm, two of assault with a weapon, and one each of receiving stolen property and possessing a class-A drug for supply.

He was found not guilty of one charge of unlawfully possessing a firearm.

Rajgopaul was nicknamed "Africa" because he was born in South Africa.

It was revealed at his sentencing that he had a previous conviction of being an accessory to an armed robbery.