Bent Cops

THE REAL WANGANUI/NZ POLICE

07 “I’ve got you now, you’ve made a fatal mistake”

Perverting the course of justice #3

In late 1991 Donald Britton (a long time “acquaintance”) contracted to sell his farm property at Makirikiri Valley, Wanganui to my wife Sandra. Then he changed his mind about selling and tried to get out of the deal by intimidation.

On January 7 1992 Donald Britton said these things to me outside my fathers place in Wanganui. All on tape.

Britton “Jack, at the moment I’m in a fairly stable frame of mind, not every third day I’m not, every third day I’m fucken”….

Jack “That’s not my problem.”

B “Nothing’s your problem at the moment, until this goes ahead, until it actually takes place. If this sale goes ahead, then it will be your problem.”

J” Why?”

B” Oof, fucken hell, fucken, it just will be. I fucken, listen I know, I fucken know, I don’t fucken sleep at night, I know right?

J” What, you’re going to get violent?”

B” Oh fucken hell man, I don’t know myself. The money doesn’t mean anything to me so I’ll spend it real easy and real quick, this money doesn’t mean anything to me. (He’s hinting that he’ll hire a hitman?) From here on I honestly do not know…what I’m like because I fucken spend a lot of fucken sleepless nights and all sorts of fucken shit, right. If anyone dies you’ll go to hell. If you take my land off me you’ll die on the place, you and your family will die on the place. You’ll not survive January.” (Remember his avarice is exceeded by nothing, not even his sexual perversions.)

The police, Constable Cullum McGillivray and Senior Sergeant Neville Haggart, refused our request to remove Britton’s firearms from him at this time saying that we were probably trying to use them to further our civil claims against Britton. (Our Specific Performance proceedings.)

This is page 2 of a statement made by Britton’s then “girl” friend Carole Smith. Note the underlined.

Then On March 19, after he again changed his mind about selling up and just minutes before he signed the Transfer Document at his lawyer’s office, he said this to me.  (again all on tape) “I’ve come that fucken close to fucken suicide about five times over the last couple of months and about that fucken close to murder. It can’t be good for me. I can’t get past that state when I’m in that state. Look I laugh sometimes and the next minute I’m crying so I’m not sure.” (Guess who he wanted me to think would be the murder victim.)

Then during the period March 19 to May 19 (after the sale went through.) Britton said these things to me at the Makirikiri farm.

“You know I poured Roundup on the roof, only to kill the moss though. Ha, Ha, Ha.”

“See that tree there it’s shaking, that’s a bad omen.”

“You know this house is built on a fault line.”

“I caught two poachers on my land one day and I made them beg for their lives. I had my gun and a shovel with me. I made one of them start to dig a grave and then I told them to fuck off. I had Mike O’Keefe with me.”

“I punched Hugh Speed in the face on the boundary fence one day. Mike O’Keefe was with him and he told me later that he thought I’d lost it.”

“I fired a shot near a bloke on James’ one day. He told Alan James that he was going to tell the cops about it but Alan James advised him not to because I would get him back.”

“I’d like to be shot in the thigh with a high-powered rifle just to see what it feels like.”

“I’ve been very lenient with you.”

“I’m a fucken schizophrenic are you worried?”

“When Maryanne left me I nearly shot myself, fuck it was a close thing.”

“Tom’s my puppet, he’ll do anything for me.”

“Nighttime’s my prerogative, that’s when I do things.”

“You pissed a lot of people off up North.” (Proof that he had been conspiring with Police.)

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After burning his final bridges on the evening of 18 5 92 the long-predicted attack happened.

19 May 1992

“Yeehaa, I’ve got you now, I’ve got you now, you’ve made a fatal mistake.”

Those words were gleefully shouted at me when Britton discovered the bullet holes in his vehicle.

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Senior Sergeant Nigel McRae got the sequence of the shots back to front and the ‘dispute’ was not about property.

Had McGillivray and Haggart removed Britton’s firearms from him as we had requested earlier the above shooting would not have occurred. They were just as culpable as Britton for what happened.

I fired at the vehicle because of Britton’s threats of the evening before and the fact that he carried a firearm in his vehicle whenever he came to our property.

And what did the cops charge Britton with? Trespass! It should have been Disorderly behaviour likely to lead to violence, threatening to kill, being unlawfully in an enclosed yard and making a false statement to Police, (he admitted in Court that he’d lied to Police about certain aspects of the shooting) but no, they charged him with the bare minimum and then advised him how to get off the charge by telling the judge that he had to do it because it was an “emergency”.

As he left the scene Britton did a handstand and walked on his hands a short distance. He was ecstatic with the outcome of his “cunning plan” to get me into trouble with the law.

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