Shotgun siege recalled

Press, 12 May 1984, Page 3

Shotgun siege recalled

PA Auckland A prison escaper found at a house at Muriwai told the police he wanted his wife brought to him and that he was in a position to blow up the property, the District Court at Auckland was told. Before Judge Tucker was Patrick Norton-Bennett, aged 33, who pleaded guilty to unlawfully using a sawnoff shotgun. He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment concurrent with a term he is already serving. Sergeant Gary Robinson said that the police had received information that the defendant, who was an inmate at Mount Eden Prison, planned to escape. This he did in spite of police being outside the prison. On September 16 the defendant was found at a

house at Muriwai. He said that he wanted his wife brought to the house, that he had enough firearms in the property to have a real party, and that he could blow up the house. The police eventually fired tear gas into the house to force the defendant and another person with him out of it. A sawn-off shotgun was found in the house. Mr James Boyack, for the defendant, described the charge as “in the nature of a washing-up charge.” The warnings given by NortonBennett were a connivance to keep the police at bay until, he hoped, his wife was brought to the house. He never threatened to use the shotgun nor did he present it. Norton-Bennett was serving a term of 45 months imprisonment for escaping, said Mr Boyack.