Bomb man ‘very mad’

Press, 27 April 1983, Page 1

Bomb man ‘very mad’

PA Wellington lan Donaldson, the homicide suspect whose body was pulled from a booby-trapped car at Pauatahunui, near Wellington, yesterday, was a committed mental patient and convicted child molester on leave from a psychiatric hospital. Mr Donaldson, aged 34, had been a patient at Porirua Hospital for a year. Previously he had spent about seven years as a special patient in the security wing at Lake Alice Hospital.

His body was pulled from his car yesterday. But the police, using an Army robot developed for handling booby-trapped vehicles in Northern Ireland, failed to remove the bomb they suspect is in the vehicle. Further attempts to remove the device will be made today. The police believe Mr Donaldson may have planted a bomb in the car before he took an overdose of pills on Monday afternoon.

They were looking for him at the time for questioning about the killing of Alan Henderson, aged 42, at his home in the Wellington suburb of Lyall Bay, early on Monday morning.

Mr Henderson’s pyjamaclad body, badly bashed about the head, was found by his eight-year-old daughter.

Mr Donaldson had been at Mr Henderson’s house the previous night. The car is parked in a little-used farm road.

Policemen using the robot worked all day to try to remove the bomb-like device that can be clearly seen inside the vehicle. It is a small wooden box with a timer attached, and lights and switches. After the robot had wrenched the back door off the vehicle, Mr Donaldson’s body was pulled out by a rope and later dragged 100 metres clear by the robot.

The superintendent of Lake Alice Hospital, Dr Sidney Pugmire, last evening described Mr Donaldson as “very bright — a long way above normal intelligence — but also very mad.”

Mr Donaldson was convicted in the mid-1970s of molesting children, both male and female. He was convicted and sentenced to prison, but was committed < to Lake Alice as a special patient — one who cannot be released without Government approval. He said Mr Donaldson had been transferred to Porirua Hospital about a year ago, when his “special patient” category, which covered the length of his prison term, had expired. . He was on extended leave from Porirua when he died.