It was him or me, policeman tells inquest

A tearful policeman has told how he felt he had no choice but to shoot dead a hammer-wielding man, who in the days previously had been speaking about aliens and wanting to go overseas to kill Muslims.

The policeman, who can be identified only as Officer A, yesterday told a Christchurch coroner's inquest that he felt his life and those of people around him was under threat when he fired his pistol at Stephen Bellingham in a Christchurch street on September 26, 2007.

Officer A, who had to stop reading his statement to the court when he became emotionally upset, said Mr Bellingham, 37, was advancing on him with the hammer raised in the air when he shot four times, inflicting a fatal injury to the chest.

"All I could think of was that he was going to smash my head with the hammer. I felt I could not turn and run because I would have been struck."

Witness Christopher Young said it was clear that Mr Bellingham was not going to stop.

"The way it looked to me was that one of them was going to die. It was going to be the police officer or the man."

But another witness to the shooting, Keiran Cross, said he did not see Mr Bellingham raise a hammer.

"There was nothing threatening about the man and he was not moving. I never saw the man do anything wrong."

The inquest heard that in the days before his death, Mr Bellingham was drinking heavily, smoking cannabis and taking party pills, and constantly sharpening knives.

He spoke of being "not of this world", of his plan to go to Jerusalem to kill Muslims and of having devices implanted in his head as a form of surveillance on him.

Flatmate Otis Thompson said Mr Bellingham was an awesome guy and like a soulmate until his behaviour changed radically before the shooting.

"You could say it was like he was possessed by the devil."

Friend Jason Grey said Mr Bellingham seemed to him to be exhibiting the signs of mental illness.

"Steve asked me if I knew we were all aliens."

Police were called after Mr Bellingham smashed and tried to set fire to a van which he used to own.

When Officer A arrived at his home, with two other police officers, Mr Bellingham had walked into a nearby street where he was using a hammer to damage other cars.

Officer A said he felt he needed to respond urgently, and drove to the street to confront Mr Bellingham, wrongly assuming the two other officers were following him.

The firearm was the only option available as Mr Bellingham refused to back down, he said.

"Given the erratic behaviour of Mr Bellingham, anything was possible."

Officer A denied making a comment to a bystander after the shooting that "I don't get paid enough to go home in a box".

The inquest continues today.