Kidnap inquiry at critical stage

By MONIQUE DEVEREUX and PATRICK GOWER

Police say the hunt for the man who snatched baby Kahu Durie has entered a "critical stage" and expect the kidnapper to be in touch soon.

With the inquiry entering its seventh day, Detective Inspector Stuart Wildon said he was optimistic the 8-month-old baby would be returned.

"I'm confident that she's out there somewhere. I'm hopeful that she's being looked after. I'm hopeful that she will be returned soon," he said.

"We are asking the offender to give us a call. It's not too late. We remain confident baby Kahu is alive."

His remarks were stronger and more positive than at any previous stage of the investigation.

As he spoke, police officers recreated the kidnapping, carried out in daylight on a quiet Lower Hutt street last Saturday.

Kahu was snatched out of her pushchair by an armed man while on a walk with her mother, Maori lawyer Donna Hall, and two cousins. He sped off in a car that is thought to be a late model Mitsubishi Galant, Magna or V3000.

No confirmed sightings have since been made of the car or of Kahu, the adopted daughter of Donna Hall and High Court judge Eddie Durie. No contact has been made by the kidnapper, nor have any ransom demands been made.

A car similar to that driven by the kidnapper sped at a volunteer firefighter as he tended to a smash near Levin on Saturday, soon after the abduction.

The volunteer firefighter said yesterday that the car pulled out of a queue and sped past the accident site, nearly knocking him down.

It was only later that the firefighter realised the car matched the description of the kidnapper's, and he reported it to police.

Police had not made public the report of the vehicle. They confirmed yesterday that it had been followed up on, but could not say whether it was relevant to the inquiry.

Mr Wildon, the second in charge of the investigation, said: "There are a lot of unknowns in this case".

He would not reveal if police knew of a possible motive but admitted they had concerns about alienating the offender with public comment.

But he was confident of Kahu's survival because "he had no evidence to the contrary".

"Our research, coupled with advice from experts overseas, suggests that very soon we might expect to hear from the offender," he said.

Mr Wildon said he had to be "very careful" about releasing some of the information they had gathered because of its sensitivity and "ability to undermine the investigation unnecessarily".

"As we enter this critical stage I do not want to say anything which would compromise the inquiry, antagonise the offender or cause him any anxiety.

"I will not be able to answer questions relating to what suspects we might have or how many suspects there are."

Police previously said they had about 12 suspects on a "growing" list, but refused to comment on what the criteria were.

Yesterday morning St Albans Grove in Lower Hutt was cordoned off for several hours as police and the family reconstructed the kidnapping.

Residents were not allowed to drive their cars in or out of the street and schoolchildren trying to get to a back entrance of Hutt Valley High School were directed the other way.

The two police officers on guard at the entrance of St Albans Grove would not say what was happening at the end of the 150m cul-de-sac.

Police brought Ms Hall and her nieces in at separate times and each was videoed re-enacting her involvement in the abduction.

One of the girls walked while holding the leash of Ms Hall's family dog Manawa; the other girl pushed Kahu's empty blue pram.

Each reconstruction lasted several minutes, with the girls walking from one side of St Albans Grove to the concrete steps in the opposite corner of the cul-de-sac.

One girl spent part of her re-enactment with her arms outstretched, palms up, while facing back towards the start of the street. Police videoed her movements.

A 1994 Mitsubishi Magna - registered to the New Zealand police - was parked on an angle outside the childcare centre on the other side of the street to the steps.

The police did not use a "gunman" during the reconstruction.

The officer overseeing the baby Kahu inquiry and the possibly linked murder of Kate Alkema, Detective Superintendent Larry Reid, had previously said police might do a reconstruction but would not say when, because "you guys [media] might turn up".

Mr Wildon last night said the three reconstructions had been carried out separately "so people tell us what happened without the influence of others".

It was also done to get precise measurements of what happened and kept out of the public eye to ensure witnesses were not placed under any additional stress.

Mr Wildon said he had no information that led him to favour the possibility it was a contract kidnapping over any other theory.

He refused to comment on whether police were investigating family members or if they had now ruled them out of the inquiry.

"I don't particularly find that line of questioning helpful ...

"I think it makes things difficult if people ask questions about the role of the family," he said.

"I don't think it is fair to them, and I don't think it is fair to the inquiry."

Police have not ruled out the possibility that more than one person was involved, but Mr Wildon has not considered doing any trade-offs with co-offenders who might come forward.

He pleaded with the public to be extra vigilant in looking for the getaway car, which remains the key to solving the case - despite only one confirmed sighting and no concrete description.

He said it might be disposed of somewhere not visible to the public, pushed over a bank or burned out somewhere.

The fresh appeal for sightings of the vehicle coincides with a 10,000-pamphlet drop in Hutt Valley showing pictures of the vehicle and details of the offender.

Police will take a caravan to St Albans Grove today in an effort to jog the memory of people who were in the area when the baby was kidnapped.

Police are now answering calls to their information hotline rather than just taping them.

The change came after police spent valuable time investigating a hoax call from a woman who said she had killed a baby and disposed of the body.

The sound quality of the message left on the answerphone made it hard to hear what the woman said.

Police asked the woman to call back because they were unable to trace the call and devoted considerable resources to combing parkland in the Wellington suburb of Berhampore in the hunt for clues.

The search did not yield anything of use to the inquiry.

Flier distributed by police

Description of suspect

Picture: Kahurautete Durie

Picture: Kahurautete's clothing

Picture: the car being sought by police

Map

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