Coroner: ‘...rifle fire was unnecessary’

Invincible Strangers 52 Chapter 23.2

The coroner tried to determine when shots were fired and stones thrown.

Sua said many shots had been fired before the Mau started to throw stones. Tapu pulled up his van on Vailima Road when he heard the firing. He saw policemen firing on the Mau from close to Fabricius’s store. He walked along Beach Road and arrived at the junction as the police reached the police station. Asked what the Mau were doing: ‘This time some were running away, some to the east and some to the west and some were wounded.’ Police had been shooting for a minute before they retreated: ‘members of the procession were running away; then I walked to the corner. The police did not retire behind the retreating Sāmoans. Some Sāmoans were ahead of them – some went alongside the police and some were behind the police.’ Waterson said 80 percent of the people were carrying something that could have been turned into a weapon: ‘The stones were coming very thick, and I thought there must have been 20 or 30 stones in the area at the same time, and they kept coming. Stones of all sizes where used…’

Detail on New Zealand map to present to coroner’s court. It was never challenged and was inaccurate.