Police swoop a nasty surprise for Kahu abductor

By PAULA OLIVER

Terence Traynor was hugely surprised when he was caught by police for the kidnapping of 8-month-old baby Kahu.

In a police interview shortly after the swoop on his Taumarunui home, Traynor said he could not understand how they found him.

He had hoped that the kidnapping would be "hushed up", kept out of the media, and the ransom quickly paid.

A video of the interview was released by police yesterday after Traynor, 54, was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

At the start of the interview, Traynor immediately stated that he intended to plead guilty.

He said he had acted alone.

Over the next three hours, he revealed his elaborate plan to the interviewing officer.

Traynor said he originally wanted to kidnap Donna Hall, but when he saw her in person for the first time while on a visit to plan the offence, he realised it wouldn't work.

"She was too big for me and I wouldn't be able to do it," he said. "I saw that she was bigger than me really, so that's when I decided to take the baby instead."

Traynor said he watched Ms Hall in the months before the kidnapping. He could not establish a definite routine to her walks. He had just hoped that she would take the route she did the day Kahu was snatched.

Describing the act of taking Kahu, Traynor said: "It was all a blur to me.

"I know Donna has said a lot about that I held a gun to their head [Ms Hall's nieces]. But I don't remember holding a gun to their head. I really don't.

"I was saying get away, get over there," Traynor said, gesturing.

The firearm he carried was loaded. Asked by the officer if he was prepared to shoot someone, Traynor said: "I would have used it if someone had bailed me up. I don't deny that."

After taking the child, Traynor said he drove very slowly to another parked car so that he did not attract attention.

Kahu, he said, slept through the whole ordeal.

By the time they got to the motor camp he was staying at, "she was drowsy, but I gave her the bottle and she was as good as gold". He stressed that he would not have hurt Kahu.

On his drive to Taumarunui from Lower Hutt, Traynor stopped at Levin to buy nappies for Kahu. He also bought a bag of kindling.

Traynor said he developed a fondness for Kahu during her time in his home, which had been adapted to resemble a prison.

"I was getting quite comfortable with her. She was happy, I was happy. I was fond of her," he said.

"She was given lots of love and care," he continued, smiling broadly.

He had been growing spinach and carrots to feed her.

Traynor drove to Hamilton from Taumarunui to post the ransom letter he wrote to Ms Hall. In the letter he enclosed photographs of Kahu with an article from the Herald.

Asked why he went to Hamilton to post the letter, Traynor said: "Well, I wasn't going to post it in Taumarunui, was I?"

Kahu was alone in the house for four hours while he was away.

The following day, Traynor said, he bought a Herald and saw Ms Hall's message that the ransom money was ready. He drove to Te Awamutu to phone her at 1pm. The call lasted less than a minute.

"I was timing it. I was aiming to make it less than a minute. I wanted to avoid the police tapping it. On all the good detective shows they do that, don't they?"

Traynor revealed that he intended to ask for the money to be dropped near Lake Taupo. He intended to escape in an outboard-powered dinghy.

He would leave Kahu outside the Hamilton police station.

He wanted to "spend up large and go out happy".

He said Ms Hall would not have missed $3 million.

Pictures: Inside the kidnapper's hideaway

The ransom note

Full coverage: Baby Kahu kidnapping