Why my son became a killer

The mother of Daniel Luff, who shot dead a policeman at Awahuri near Feilding last year, believes psychologists at Palmerston North Hospital could have averted her son's downward spiral.

Tracey Luff said her son was seen three times by the "crisis team" of psychologists, but they had not helped.

"It all happened over a boy with a broken heart."

Mrs Luff said her son was just a mixed-up teenager who needed help.

"Despite what happened, he was just a normal kid."

She had not spoken publicly until now because she did not want to cause any more pain for the victims.

After her son was told he was unable to see his girlfriend any more, he went into a suicidal depression.

"When he slashed his wrists ... basically he was told [by the crisis team]: 'It's just a teenage thing. You'll get over it'.

"I keep hearing all this stuff about the teenage suicide rates in New Zealand, and I watched how they treated him and it's no wonder. It was shocking.

"The week before [the shooting], he had finally been granted a counsellor and she rang me and said she was very, very concerned. Not just for Daniel's safety, but for Stephanie [Cocker, his ex-girlfried].

"She felt he shouldn't be left alone. I thought they would have kept him in overnight."

Mrs Luff said she was still considering laying a complaint.

Luff was only just remembering some details of the shootings.

On the day of the shooting, he was due to go to live with an aunt "up north".

"He just went past the Cockers' place out of curiosity, hoping to get a glimpse of Stephanie. But when the police had their lights on, he got really scared. He knew he was in trouble."

She said Luff had already spent a night in the cells for breaching a protection order, and was terrified of going back.

Her son was bitten by police dogs after he was handcuffed and his injuries were not treated properly, she said.

"By the time they got him to remand in Kaitoke Prison, they had to take him to Wanganui Hospital for septicaemia."

Mrs Luff visits her son every week in the high-security youth section at Rimutaka Prison.

He is resitting some Bursary subjects, working in the prison joinery, taking forestry and life-skills courses and has a keen interest in gardening.

"He is not just, as I imagine a lot of people think he should be, shut in a cell all day.

"Mentally he was in quite a bad state before it happened and worse after it happened. He has been seen by a psychologist and he is facing the reality of what he has done.

"He was a fish out of water when he went to prison. He is fitting in with the other inmates, but he is quite determined that he is not going to lose his moral standards."

She said Luff looked forward to getting out of prison and would like to be a truck driver.

"He will have a life when he gets out. We just build him up and say there are people out there who love you.

"I have just carried on. There is still a big part of me that can't believe that this happened. I'm still his mother. I have still got a job to do in supporting him now."

MidCentral District Health Board was not available for comment.

Daniel Luff


* Daniel Luff, 18, was convicted of murdering Detective Constable Duncan Taylor in July last year.

* He was also convicted of attempting to murder another police officer, Jeanette Park, and holding his ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Cocker, and her parents hostage in an armed stand-off with police at the Cockers' Awahuri home.

* He was sentenced to 17 years in jail.

- NZPA