Fire-bombed policeman may leave force

Press, 17 January 1979, Page 1

Fire-bombed policeman may leave force

Constable John Delaney is seriously considering his future in the police after his Temuka home was fire-bombed on Monday night. “I have to think about my family—whether the work is the be-all and end-all,” he said last evening. . . Constable Delaney and his wife, Anne, were lucky to escape severe burning or death after a Molotov cocktail was hurled through the bedroom window of their house in AlInatt Street, Temuka, about midnight on Monday. Their three children also got out of the burning house safely after the attack, which the Temuka

police described as “disgusting.” Constable Delaney said he had received many “idle threats” in the several years he has been stationed at Temuka but had never expected them to be carried out.

“Obviously it is someone I have had to deal with,” he said. “I am involved in the inquiry, and I want to see it through to the end.” In the meantime, the Delaney family is staying with relatives in Timaru.

Constable Delaney said his wife and children were badly shocked by the attack.

“It is pretty poor when they become involved in this sort of thing. They

have nothing to do with my work,” he said. The attack has started one of the biggest police inquiries in South Canterbury for some time. Detectives and uniformed police spent yesterday interviewing many young people in Temuka and Geraldine, but no arrest had been made by last evening.

A person had been seen running near the Delaneys’ house minutes after the incident, said the officer in charge of the inquiry, Inspector B. D. Read, of Timaru.

He said the police were following several leads. They were anxious to hear from anyone who had seen the person, or had

seen a light-coloured Mark II Ford Cortina being driven round Temuka after 10.30 p.m. on Monday, The person seen running in the area was about 1.73 m (sft Bin) tall, with blond hair. He was wearing a light-coloured jacket and trousers.

The fire, which was quickly put out by the Temuka Volunteer Fire Brigade, left the bed and room in which the Delaneys had been sleeping blackened and charred. “The firemen did a great job,” Constable Delaney said. He said the cost of the damage to the house, which he has been renovating, was estimated at §2500.