Molenaar 'fired 120 rounds at police, neighbours'

Coroner David Crerar. Photo / Hawkes Bay Today

A steel chest plate and Kevlar-type body armour made from a motorcycle jacket protected Napier siege gunman Jan Molenaar as he fired more than 120 rounds from his house in May last year, police told a coroner's court yesterday.

Coroner David Crerar for three days has conducted an inquest was into the self-inflicted death of Molenaar, 51, and his fatal shooting of Senior Constable Len Snee on May 7, 2009.

Molenaar died after an extended police siege of his home.

Superintendent Rod Drew said Molenaar had strung barbed wire across a side doorway in his garage and tried to run electric current into the metal handle of the door.

When special tactics group (STG) and armed offenders squad (AOS) members got inside the house at 41 Chaucer Road, Molenaar's body was found lying beside the bed in the master bedroom, with a single .38 shot through the head.

Several notes were found, including one on a cardboard ammunition box which read: "U make life hard u get hard people. 2 the death! No (one) will take it from me". A skull and crossbones were drawn at the end of the message.

On a wall near a gun port he had cut in the wall so he could see into the lounge Molenaar had written: "I am off 2c my cool bro. Luv you 4 ever Del. Janni Mo. Sorry for being bad".

Mr Drew said Molenaar, a former territorial soldier, had 10 rifles, six shotguns, a .38 pistol, and a rocket-launcher tube inside the house.

Ten firearms were found in the master bedroom with his body. He had created barricades of upturned furniture to obstruct entry and had readily available guns, ammunition and explosives.

Two holes were cut in walls as gun ports to give him a field of vision and fire into the rooms surrounding his bedroom "stronghold", Mr Drew said.

Three improvised explosive devices or IEDs, made from bottles filled with flammable liquid, were found on the floor at the end of the bed.

A fourth IED on the left side of the bed in a plastic container contained a firework taped to commercial explosive, small gas cylinders, ball bearings, screws and nails.

Although they had the potential to cause significant damage, a defect in the ignition system rendered them inoperable.

In addition to the IEDs, 22 military explosive Thunderflash friction devices were found, and two military smoke grenades.

Mr Drew said it was clear that Molenaar had retreated to the master bedroom, expecting police to attempt to force entry.

The police negotiating team made 132 attempts to call Molenaar. He replied to 23 of them.

At one point, a police officer fired two quick shots when a rifle barrel was pointed through a partly opened door but neither shot hit Molenaar.

One of two police officers seriously wounded by Molenaar in his driveway when they tried to execute a drugs search warrant had taken refuge in a house next door.

The house's south-facing wall was hit by seven rounds from Molenaar who fired more rounds after an unsuccessful attempt by AOS members to fire gas canisters into a bedroom of his house.

Two residents in a street 140 metres away spent much of the 50-hour siege in a basement after coming under fire as they stood on a balcony, talking to police on a phone.

Another nine shots subsequently struck the house, one going through a bedroom and into the lounge near one of the occupants.

Mr Drew defended police actions from criticism by a Department of Labour inspector over the failure of the three officers shot to wear stab-resistant body armour, or to tell the communications centre they were at 41 Chaucer Road conducting a search warrant.

He said that did not contribute to the shooting of the officers or a civilian, Len Holmwood.

"In very general terms, the police approach was to give Molenaar the opportunity to surrender safely and to encourage him to do so. His response was that it had gone too far, so he could not do so. He said that he would not go to prison," Mr Drew said.

At 1.21pm on May 8, the day after the initial shootings, Molenaar sent a final text message to his brother Hans. It read "U r cool hansie luv heaps".

Seven minutes later police officers heard a low-calibre gunshot report from his house.

After no further shots or contact, £ members broke into the house, where they found the body.

The coroner has reserved his decision.

- NZPA