Death of a team mate Op Mainland 9

Being able to remain professional and follow their training is what is getting three Matamata Police officers through as the investigation into the murder of their team mate continues.

On Saturday two local Police officers played alongside murdered team mate Desmond ARAHANGA for Matamata against Hamilton's Te Rapa in the Waikato Premier B rugby final.

A third officer also plays in the team but injured his back in training on Thursday and was unable to take part in the match.

Operation Mainland enquiry head, Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Nicholls, said one officer was in the scrum with Mr Arahanga during the match.

"That officer worked on Saturday night and attended the call to Waharoa, arriving at the scene he immediately recognised his critically injured team mate and attempted to resuscitate him.

"He told us he was quite thrown by what he saw but to his credit carried on, the officer who missed the game was also one of the first at the scene and the third officer is one of the detectives investigating the murder."

Mr Nicholls said one of the risks associated with working in any of the emergency services in a small community was that if an emergency happened then there was a good chance the first responders would know those affected.

"That has some obvious negative effects but also some lesser recognised positives.

"From what we understand the fact that local Police responded so quickly to the 111 call had a calming effect on what was a very volatile situation."

Mr Nicholls said the fact the first staff at the scene were readily identifiable went a long way to diffusing the situation and helped in the gathering of essential early information.

 

Note to reporters. The three officers involved have all requested their privacy be respected and have declined requests to speak to media.