2310 NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 86 21 MAY 2008

THE NEW ZEALAND BRAVERY DECORATION

(N.Z.B.D.)

Robert Bruce GIBSON
Constable, New Zealand Police

Karl Hugh PENNINGTON
Constable, New Zealand Police

Citation

On 5 June 2005 at 9.20 am, a man drove into the St Lukes
shopping centre carpark in Auckland after being pursued by
Police for driving dangerously through inner-city Auckland.
Once in the carpark the offender, who was armed with a
cut-down AK47 style assault rifle, tried unsuccessfully to
hijack a car occupied by a mother and her six year old
daughter. The offender then tried to hijack a second car, but
was distracted by the arrival of a Police car driven by
Constable Pennington and Constable Gibson.

Seeing the Police officers arrive, the offender approached
the Police car and pointed the rifle at Constable Pennington.
He pulled the trigger, but the gun failed to fire as it had
not been properly cocked. Undeterred, the offender
continued to approach the car still aiming the rifle at
Constable Pennington. While this was happening, Constable
Pennington retained his composure and hastily made a radio
call to Police Control. Constable Gibson dived out of the
car. The offender continued to struggle with his rifle and
when he finally managed to chamber a round, he fired a shot
into the roof of the carpark. Not knowing in which direction
this shot had been fired, Constable Pennington also dived
out of the car. Realising that both Police officers were now
lying prone on the opposite side of the vehicle, the offender
fired several shots through the rear passenger door of the
Police car in an attempt to kill them. One of these shots
passed close to Constable Gibson’s head.

The offender then ran off and attempted to hijack a further
two vehicles at the car park entrance. During this time, both
constables moved to a position where they could observe the
offender. Believing that several members of the public were
in grave danger, Constable Pennington stepped out from
behind cover to attract his attention. Realising the Police
officers were still alive, the offender ran back into the
carpark firing at them. Both constables ran up a ramp and,
once they believed they were clear of the offender, they
warned other members of the public who were in the
vicinity to get clear of the area and then called for back up.
During this time, the offender finally managed to hijack a
vehicle containing a man and his elderly parents and drove
off with them still in the car. During the ensuing pursuit of
the hijacked vehicle, the offender fired on Police a further
three times and was eventually apprehended by the Armed
Offenders Squad.

Throughout this incident both these unarmed Police officers
displayed great bravery in confronting an armed offender
who was intent on killing them. Working as a team, they
made sure members of the public were warned of potential
danger and managed to prevent at least two attempts by the
offender to hijack vehicles in the car park. They also kept
Police controllers informed throughout the incident, which
facilitated the subsequent arrest of the offender by the
Armed Offenders Squad.

THE NEW ZEALAND BRAVERY MEDAL (N.Z.B.M.)

Roger William BRIGHT
Senior Constable, New Zealand Police

Citation

At 7.40am on 4 January 2006, a male resident of Great
Barrier Island arrived at the residence of Senior Constable
Roger Bright (one of two police members on Great Barrier
Island), seeking help. The resident had found a will, suicide
note, wallet, and two chequebooks belonging to his friend
on his front porch and asked if Senior Constable Bright
would accompany him to his friend’s house, because he
feared what might have happened to him.

When Senior Constable Bright and the resident arrived at
the house there was a strong smell of gas emanating
from the rear of the property. All the doors and windows of
the house were secured and after a further search, a male
body was seen lying on the floor of the bathroom along with
two 60lb gas bottles, which were venting gas into the room.
Senior Constable Bright, looking through the window, could
not see any signs of life from the man. In an attempt to gain
entry into the house without igniting the gas inside, he used
a nearby machete he had found to try and lever open the
bathroom window. Whilst doing so, however, he heard
the man cough, and immediately ran back to the porch to
retrieve a splitting axe, which he used to smash the window.

When Senior Constable Bright entered the house, he was hit
with a wall of gas fumes, which also filled the bathroom. He
physically dragged the man, who was unconscious, solidly
built, and 6 feet 4 inches in height, from the bathroom whilst
almost being overcome by the gas himself. He continued to
drag the man away from the bathroom and through the
house, stopping half way to battle the effects of the gas.
Eventually he managed to drag the man out of the house to a
safer area of the property. With the help of the victim’s
friend, he then moved the victim to the friend’s house.
Senior Constable Bright then went to wake the doctor who
lived up the road; however, he was unsuccessful and had to
get the local radio operator to contact the on-call doctor
before returning to the victim.

Senior Constable Bright displayed quick thinking and
bravery in order to save a life, when he entered, without
hesitation, a life threatening situation knowing that further
police and medical assistance were not immediately
available.

George Allan STEWART
Senior Sergeant, New Zealand Police

Citation

Senior Sergeant Allan Stewart was deployed as part of the
United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste for a six
month period between October 2006 and April of 2007,
where he was the Sub District Commander of the Becora
area as part of the United Nations Police (UNPOL). He
commanded 140 staff over one of the biggest sub districts of
Dili where the Metanaro Internally Displaced Persons
Refugee Camp (IDP) was based that contained 7,000
refugees.

On 10 November 2006, a group led by a UN co-ordinator
and six other UN employees were working at the Metanaro
IDP Refugee Camp. There was festering anger and unrest
amongst the camp residents over perceived delays in the
provision of rice and other food stocks from the UN Non
Government Organisation (NGO), and after a heated
exchange over the allocation of food and water with the
camp management, the UN co-ordinator and the other UN
employees were taken hostage by a large group of hostile,
armed male residents. When the employees tried to leave the
camp by vehicle, a large crowd of young men physically
threatened them with rocks and other weapons and seized
the vehicle keys, telling the UN hostages that they could not
leave until they (the refugees) had been given what they
wanted.

The hostages attempted to seek help from the nearby local
Timor-Leste Defence Force (FFDTL) Military Camp and