Cyclone Gabrielle: Road workers who had guns pulled on them in Hawke’s Bay, dispute Prime Minister’s ‘third-hand’ information claim

Road workers who had guns pulled on them at a Hawke’s Bay roadblock say they are frustrated by officials casting doubt on the incident.

A traffic management boss said staff in the region had a pistol and sawn-off shotgun pointed at them by a car-load of gang members while working last Friday.

Traffic management supervisor Liam Harvey told Newstalk ZB that the roadworkers reported the incident to police. “We had the police come to us that [Friday] night, and took statements from everyone involved,” Harvey told ZB’s Heather Du Plessis-Allan.

He confirmed these statements were first-hand accounts. Harvey also said police had told him they had made some inquiries, but he hadn’t heard anything further since the weekend.

Under attack from the Opposition and some residents about crime in the region, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said earlier this week that there was no first-hand account of the incident. “The reports of guns pulled at checkpoints, so far there have only third or fourth-hand accounts of it,” Hipkins said during a press conference.

One of several roadblocks in place around the wider Puketapu area being manned by locals. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Speaking to Du Plessis-Allan, Police Minister Stuart Nash was asked if he would now admit that there was a problem with crime in Hawkes Bay.

He replied that he understood that people were “feeling unsafe”.

He said “he wouldn’t doubt” that people who had guns had pointed them at the checkpoint but wasn’t convinced by the supposed lack of evidence.

Nash grew increasingly frustrated and asked Du Plessis-Allan why she “was so fixated on this”.

“I completely understand that they are really, really worried about the actions of a very small group in our community that is acting in a way that is completely antisocial and completely unacceptable,” Nash said. “It is why the police are arresting anyone that they find engaging in illegal behaviour or they have evidence of having engaged in illegal behaviour.”

Harvey said his crew was feeling “shaken, uneasy and nervous” following the incident, with one crew member after to take “stress leave”.

He said the official’s denial of the occurrence of the event was “a little bit frustrating considering ... it actually happened”.

Ryan Lawson of East Coast Traffic told Newsroom staff were facing daily abuse. “Honestly for us it was a very, very scary moment and that crew just had to up and leave.”

On Monday, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said he felt police had the situation under control and the number of law and order issues was actually lower than normal. He said more resources were on their way.

The region had got 145 additional frontline police staff in the wake of the cyclone on top of 770 already there.

Coster also said reports of crime were down on normal levels.

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise told RNZ regardless of reporting levels people were scared and wanted more people on the ground. Wise also said crime was potentially underreported due to widespread communications issues.

Meanwhile, local residents spoken to by the Herald have said they would like to see armed forces take over the roadblocks they had set up to prevent looting of damaged properties. Some local residents have even indicated they could take up their own arms if the situation worsened.

Act Party leader David Seymour said the Prime Minister needed to order the military to assist police.

“The first duty of Government is to keep people safe. People on the East Coast are terrified and their pleas for help should be listened to.”

Seymour said more than 600 police were sent to the Parliament protest and yet only 100 have been sent to Hawke’s Bay.

“A presence in the worst affected areas would make a huge difference to communities that are suffering. They are exhausted and they shouldn’t have to be up all night manning their own checkpoints.”