The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found an officer was justified in fatally shooting a Whangarei woman who staged an armed hold-up in a phone shop.
Lee Mettam was shot in the chest by a member of the Armed Offenders Squad on 23 October 2008 as she stood in the doorway of the Whangarei Vodafone store in Reyburn Street.
In a report issued on Thursday, IPCA chair Justice Lowell Goddard says Officer A was justified in shooting Ms Mettam in light of the immediate threat of death or harm to himself and others.
Ms Mettam had her .177 air rifle aimed at Officer A and was holding a staff member hostage inside the shop.
Police had seen Ms Mettam pointing her rifle at the hostage and, despite appeals to her to put the weapon down, she had raised and swung it towards Officer A.
Justice Goddard says police and civilian witnesses believed Ms Mettam was going to shoot Officer A and he could not reasonably have protected himself in a less violent manner.
The report says Ms Mettam had been a heavy drug-user since the age of 14 and had 63 convictions for drug use, assault, and a firearms offence.
It reveals that in the days before the shooting, Mettam had extorted money, with the help of a gang member, from a staff member at the phone shop where the shooting occurred.
Woman had list of convictions, report reveals
The IPCA investigation reveals Ms Lee had a background of drugs, death threats and extortion.
The report said had been a heavy drug-user since 14 and had 63 convictions for drug use, assault and a firearms offence.
At the time of her death Ms Lee was on methadone for heroin addiction, was a user of cannabis, LSD, methamphetamine and a prescription drug which can cause mood swings.
The report says that in the days before the shooting, Ms Mettam had extorted money with the help of a gang member from a staff member at the phone shop.
The male employee's family had earlier taken Ms Mettam in after she was released from prison. Ms Mettam reportedly assaulted the man's sister, claiming a friend of the sister owed her money for drugs.
The family paid her $100 but Mettam then demanded a further $800, saying the sister's life would otherwise be in danger. The family refused, but later agreed to pay after Mettam turned up at the Vodafone shop with a gang member.
The report says the day before the shooting, Ms Mettam demanded $5000 from the employee's sister. This time the family refused to pay and moved to a motel for the night as they feared for their lives.
