Anarchist bomber acted alone

Press, 19 November 1982, Page 1

Anarchist bomber acted alone

NZPA Wanganui The police are satisfied that the young anarchist punk rocker who died when a bomb he was planting at the Wanganui Computer Centre exploded early yesterday morning was acting entirely on his own. . They have ruled out any conspiracy or plot to attack Government facilities by an anarchist group. “We have conclusive evidence that he was on his own,” said Detective SeniorSergeant R. L. Butler, who was in charge of investigations into the incident, last evening. He named the dead man as • Neil lan Roberts, aged 22, unemployed, of Auckland.

He said Mr Roberts had an anti-establishment background. "He had long held antisocial attitudes and was inclined to protests of various kinds,” said Senior-Sergeant Butler. Mr Roberts had been identified by his fingerprints, which were on police records.

Mr Roberts was killed instantly, at 12.35 a.nq., when the bomb he was carrying in a red hold-all exploded as he walked towards the entrance of Waiere House, which houses New Zealand’s main law-enforcement, services computer. “From What we have learned about him, he intended to kill himself. He had become obsessed with committing this last, final, act,” said Senior-Sergeant Butler.

Mr Roberts had painted a last message on the wall of a

toilet opposite the computer centre just before he walked over with the bomb. The spray-painted message said: “We have maintained a silence closely resembling stupidity.” It was followed by the anarchy sign — the letter A painted in a circle — and the words: “Anarchy peace thinking.” After the explosion, pieces of Mr Roberts’s body, including his chest, which bore a new tattoo, “This punk won’t see 23, no future,” were scattered up to 65 metres away. Nobody else was hurt and damage was confined to the shattered bullet-proof glass main doors. The blast rocked buildings 400 m away. , Two security guards inside the building were knocked off their feet. The armoured

glass round their cubicle, in the building’s foyer, saved them from injury. The foyer was wrecked. Mr Roberts had lived in Auckland, but had recently made frequent visits to Stratford. Friends drove him to the bus station in Stratford' on Wednesday evening. As he boarded the bus he told them: “I am going to Wanganui to do something frightful. If I should blow up the Wanganui computer, the cops will be around.” In Wanganui, he went to a service station where he bought a' pack battery. He connected that to what the police described as a “fairly substantial amount of. gelignite,” and wired it to a detonator.

* One of the two security. i guards in the computer foyer saw him apipreach the entrance and 'bend down. As the guard ?moved to ask him through an * inter-com what he wanted, wthere was a flash and a roar. p It is believed that Mr /(Roberts ’ had visited Wan-j-ganui with another punk two weeks ago. £ A policewoman who saw vhim and. a friend in Wan<ganui two weeks ago said she remembered Fthem because they were •i wearing safety pins, and had ; razor blades in their ears.. » Superintendent B. K. Dean *said he had never before > seen a body so mangled. ’ “They will be finding bits -.of him for days,” he said. V The Minister of Police, Mr Couch- said it would come as a shocks to most New. Zea-, landers .to, learn, “how far these people are prepared to go."

The Wanganui computer houses all records relating to New Zealanders held by the police, Justice Department, and Ministry of Transport. The service was not affected by the blast, but all nonessential staff were asked to stay home yesterday to allow the Ministry of Works to start ' reconstructing the wrecked foyer. Security at key Government facilities throughout New Zealand was stepped up in the wake of the blast, while the police made investigations.

A review of security at Parliament Buildings might now be necessary, said the Speaker, Sir Richard Harrison, yesterday. The chairman of the State Services Commission, Dr Mervyn Probine, said that even if the Wanganui centre had been destroyed by the explosion,- : there were contingency plans which would enable the system ■•to .be working again in a matter, of days. Duplicate computer records were held elsewhere. A.