3534 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 119 20 OCTOBER 2006

ensued before the mob was forced away. During the struggle,
a number of women and children were pushed to the front of
the crowd to prevent the police using pepper spray or baton
charges to disperse them. With the young children in the
front line, some of the men at the rear began using
slingshots to fire stones at the police, some of which were
large and thrown with such force they travelled more than
100 metres. Constable Bertrand took the risk of placing
herself at the front to protect the children and calling upon
those slinging stones to cease their activities. Her positive
action and the respect the local population had for her
encouraged the rock throwers to stop. The police present at
this incident did not have protective equipment available to
them.

The next day (18 January), some 50 people attacked police
lines in front of a ship that had arrived to load the local
copra crop. Some of the crowd retreated leaving the ground
open again for rocks to be thrown by slingshot at the police.
Despite being struck on the leg by a rock, and receiving a
significant injury, Constable Bertrand took a team of Royal
Solomon Island police officers to the rear of the crowd in an
attempt to deter the stone throwers and arrest those who
continued to assault the police lines. Her actions played a
major part in temporarily restoring order. A little later,
another group of about 50 strikers moved to the rear of the
copra company’s yard, destroyed the boundary fence and
began stoning the workers inside. The police reserve group
went to confront them and Constable Bertrand took the
police vehicle from the police station and acted as a
collection point for prisoners and the injured. The vehicle
immediately came under attack, with the entire crowd
turning against the police. Over 400 people were now
attacking the police positions. Constable Bertrand retreated
to the police station and despite the risk, exposed herself to a
hail of rocks in order to move to safety a group of children
who had been sitting nearby. She then managed to get some
protective equipment and led a Royal Solomon Island police
team out to disperse the attackers.

After 90 minutes of sustained action, the attackers were
dispersed and order was restored. In a subsequent clean-up,
more than 200 rocks were removed from the back lawn of
the police station.

Constable Bertrand distinguished herself with a number of
acts of bravery during this very dangerous period.

Pes Sia’atoutai FA’AUI

Citation

On the afternoon of 28 November 2005, Pes Sia’atoutai
Fa’aui, an environmental officer employed by the Waitakere
City Council, was on duty in Railside Avenue, Henderson.
Nearby, a man with a knife had stabbed and injured a sport
shop owner, who had to flee his shop after receiving stab
injuries to his back, stomach, arm and hand. The offender
then crossed the road and fatally stabbed a 65-year-old man
who was getting into his car.

A police officer arrived on the scene and the offender
advanced on him with the knife. The police officer
repeatedly called on the man to stop but he continued to
advance even after being shot three times from five shots
fired at him by the officer. Witnesses describe the man
increasing the determination of his advance on the police
officer, who was retreating backwards.

As the police officer was turning to evade his attacker, Mr
Fa’aui tackled the offender from behind, hitting him with his
right shoulder into his back, while bringing his right arm
around his front. In doing so, he received deep cuts to a
number of his fingers, which had come into contact with the
knife. The tackle succeeded in knocking the offender to the
ground, after which two other police officers who had just
arrived on the scene were able to subdue and handcuff him.

Mr Fa’aui’s action prevented any further possibility of
injury or death to others in the vicinity, including the police
officer who had originally confronted the offender as well as
the offender himself.

Mr Fa’aui’s act of exceptional bravery led to the arrest of a
dangerous offender and possibly saved a police officer from
serious injury.

David TEMPLETON
Sergeant, New Zealand police

Citation

On 21 January 2003, following a bizarre mutilation of two
women in the Thames area, the offender fled to South
Auckland. Once there, he shot and killed a man outside a
cinema and restaurant complex, then left the scene in a
motor vehicle. Sergeant Templeton, then Senior Constable,
was on duty with his police dog nearby and came across
the offender fleeing the scene. He reported the car and the
circumstances to the Police Communications Centre,
advising that he was pursuing the offender’s car. When the
offender realised that he was being pursued, he fired a
number of shots from a semi-automatic weapon directly at
Senior Constable Templeton and his vehicle, and several
bullets hit the vehicle. Initially Senior Constable Templeton
did not realise that he was being shot at, but once he did, he
withdrew to what he considered to be a safe distance, while
still reporting the offender’s movements. Shortly afterwards,
the offender slowed down and focused the laser telescopic
sights of his firearm at Senior Constable Templeton’s head
and face and again fired shots at him. Fortunately none of
the shots hit the officer. By this time, other police were
involved in the pursuit of the offender, who then fled a short
distance before breaking into a house nearby and taking two
adults hostage for a number of hours before surrendering to
the Armed Offenders Squad and Hostage Negotiation Team.

An investigation of the incident has since determined that
Senior Constable Templeton was shot at on four separate
occasions and that one of the bullets had hit his vehicle on
the sill below the driver’s door, very close to where he had
been sitting.

Senior Constable Templeton has also displayed bravery on
other occasions.

George William WHITE
Sergeant, New Zealand Police

Citation

On 17 and 18 January 2005, there was a riot at Yandina
in the Solomon Islands during an industrial dispute. On
17 January, Constable Ngakina Jane Bertrand had been
assaulted during an incident and Sergeant White, then an
acting inspector, together with another officer went to her
assistance, using pepper spray to force a number of strikers
to withdraw. They were punched and kicked while doing so.
An arrested person was placed in the police cells after which
some 300 angry strikers attempted to storm the police
station. After several hours of skirmishing with the strikers,
the latter were pushed back to the market area and talked
into staying there to allow the police to process the prisoner,
who was bailed once calm had been restored.

The following day (18 January) at about 10.30 a.m., large
rocks were propelled at police lines, which were preventing
access to the wharf area where copra was being loaded.
Peace was restored temporarily but a riot developed at about
11.30 a.m. police lines were attacked, as was the police
station. Every police officer present received injuries from
rocks and one Royal Solomon Island police member
received a large rock though his shield and helmet visor,
which knocked him out, broke his nose and cut his forehead.
Tear gas and pepper spray were both deployed at this stage,
with some 500 rioters being present. By 3.30 p.m., the rioters