Hostage drama over 22hrs

Press, 15 January 1986, Page 1

Hostage drama over 22hrs

PA Palmerston North A hostage drama in a Palmerston North house ended peacefully at 2.32 p.m. yesterday when the young woman hostage left the house carrying a rifle. The hostage, aged 18, known only as Bonita, was held in a flat in the house in Wood Street for 22 hours by John Howard Barnes, aged 20. A few minutes after the young woman was reunited with her mother in a police

car, -Barnes walked out of the house with his hands up. The police earlier described Barnes as a dangerous man with a history of firearms offences. During the siege he fired several shots from a .303-calibre rifle. ’ At one stage of the siege, which began about 6 p.m. on Monday, he was waving a knife, and his hostage had a cut finger—the only injury. A news blackout on the siege was imposed by the

police until 6 a.m. yesterday. Barnes made several demands in telephone calls to the police and to the local radio station, . 2XS. These ranged from freedom for all I.R.A. prisoners in Ireland to requests for his favourite music to be played. In the final stages, after the police talked quietly to him and waited patiently for him to surrender, Barnes apologised to his family, heard one more request, and said tearfully:

“Forgive me, New Zealand.” The police said they were prepared to wait any time for Barnes to surrender, but towards 2.30 p.m. an ambulance was standing by. Chief Superintendent Jim Wooders said the operation was extremely successful, but he criticised the public. “We were a bit disappointed with bystanders who would not obey our requests,” he said. They aggravated an already tense situation. The last person to negoti-

ate with Barnes, Constable Bruce Mutch, was praised by Mr Wooders for the way he dealt with “a very highly strung situation.” A Wood Street resident, Mr Peter Flynn, who lives opposite the house where the siege occurred, said: “In a lot of countries there would have been a great explosion and they’d have dragged out two bodies. The quietness and discipline of the police has been quite impressive.” Further report, page 5