\nPhoto \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
The jury retired at 12.22pm today, after Justice Mander summed up the case and instructed them on their duties, to begin deliberating. <\/p>\n
Three-and-a-half hours later they advised they had reached a verdict.<\/p>\n
Tasker showed no emotion when the jury\u2019s unanimous verdicts were read. <\/p>\n
As he was convicted by Justice Mander, members of Fleming\u2019s family \u2013 seated in the public gallery \u2013 cried.<\/p>\n
Tasker will be sentenced in July.<\/p>\n
Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming
\nPhoto \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
Senior Sergeants Ramsay and Fleming were on foot patrol just after 2am when Tasker drove at them in his white Honda Odyssey.<\/p>\n
Ramsay was thrown 8m and suffered serious injuries, including a dislocated shoulder, a badly gashed head \u2013 so bad you could see through to the skull \u2013 as well as cuts and severe abrasions to other parts of his body.<\/p>\n
Fleming was thrown 20m and was fatally injured.<\/p>\n
She sustained catastrophic injuries but was resuscitated at the scene before being rushed to Nelson Hospital and placed on life support, until her family could gather at her side to say goodbye.<\/p>\n
She died minutes after life support was turned off.<\/p>\n
Tasker was later charged with murdering Fleming and injuring Ramsey with intent to cause grievous bodily harm<\/a>.<\/p>\n He is also facing charges of injuring a number of other police officers and civilians.<\/p>\n At the start of the trial, Crown Solicitor Mark O\u2019Donoghue outlined the case against Tasker.<\/a><\/p>\n He told the jury Tasker was angry at the police and after \u201cruminating and brooding\u201d he drove his car deliberately at the officers.<\/p>\n \u201cTo use his own words, he \u2018f*****g planted it\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe defendant, accelerating as hard as he could, drove straight into them \u2026 He made no attempt to brake. He made no attempt to avoid the two officers.”<\/p>\n \u201cTo summarise, he admitted to seeing the two officers, to accelerating as hard as he could, to getting a decent run\u2013up and driving into the two officers.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd at the critical moment, the moment he did it, he admitted to being motivated by anger towards the police … The Crown says this was no accident, no mistake, no manslaughter.\u201d<\/p>\n Defence lawyer Josh Lucas said Tasker \u201caccepts\u201d he was driving and was responsible for Fleming\u2019s death and the injuries sustained by Ramsay and others.<\/p>\n But he did not intend to kill or seriously harm anyone.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Tasker made a failed suicide attempt that night by way of an intended police chase, which sadly went wrong from the moment it started,\u201d Lucas said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is guilty of manslaughter but not of murder. The difference between the two of them in this case is intent.<\/p>\n \u201cThe defence says that Mr Tasker lacked the intent for murder.\u201d<\/p>\n Lucas said it was important to note that what happened to Fleming and Ramsay was \u201ca tragedy\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should not have happened. But unfortunately, it did. And no one, especially not Mr Tasker, is shying away from those facts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe regrets what happened. He\u2019s sorry for the loss and harm he caused. As he said to the police when interviewed: \u2018It should have been me that died that night. No one else\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Lucas said Tasker also told police he was \u201cgoing to have to live with the consequences of actions, namely someone being killed for the rest of his life\u201d.<\/p>\n Police respond to verdict<\/p>\n Police Commissioner Richard Chambers acknowledged today\u2019s verdict, saying Fleming\u2019s death was still \u201craw for all\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis should never have happened at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cLyn, and those with her that night, were targeted solely because of the uniform they wore.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope we never again have to go through the tragedy of losing a colleague.\u201d<\/p>\n Chambers said he was proud of his colleagues for the way they supported each other through the crisis.<\/p>\n He also paid tribute to Fleming\u2019s family.<\/p>\n \u201cThey supported Lyn through 38 years and seven months of service,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope they have drawn some comfort from the obvious love and respect shown for Lyn by her colleagues and the community she was so dedicated to.<\/p>\n \u201cShe paid the ultimate sacrifice and that must never be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n Tasman District commander Superintendent Tracey Thompson said the decision would bring closure and healing.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, it will never bring Lyn back or erase the traumatic events of that night from our minds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe events that night will never leave us, but also, they will never overshadow the wonderful memories Lyn gave us.\u201d<\/p>\n Police Minister Mark Mitchell said the verdict brought a \u201cprofound sense of relief\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI know the country has been trying to share and carry that pain with you, but you are really the only ones that understand what you\u2019ve had to go through,\u201d he said to Fleming\u2019s family.<\/p>\n Lyn Fleming\u2019s family speaks<\/p>\n Fleming\u2019s sister Jo Brown addressed the media after the verdict, supported by her brother Woody Fleming.<\/p>\n \u201cThe manner in which Lyn died was nothing short of barbaric,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were woken up New Year\u2019s Day to the most heartbreaking news any family could receive.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew it wasn\u2019t going to be a happy ending, but we cannot thank the first responders and hospital staff enough. We know how hard you battled to keep Lyn alive, so we could say goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n Brown acknowledged the passing of her \u201cdarling dad\u201d in February.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the last year of his life, he was heartbroken after losing his second-born daughter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI promised my dad I would carry the torch and attend court every day on his behalf.<\/p>\n \u201cI fulfilled my promise to you dad and we got the result you so desperately wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n Fleming\u2019s son, Aren Olsen, described January 1, 2025 as \u201cthe hardest day our family has ever had to live through\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second hardest day has been every day since then.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor all of the members of the public that leapt into action to do everything they could to save her, to the first responders, to the members of the police team that did everything that they could both to contain the situation and since then to hold the person that did it responsible \u2013 we thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I can honestly say that we have seen justice,\u201d Olsen continued.<\/p>\n \u201cBut today we have seen accountability, and for that we are eternally grateful to the prosecution team, to everybody that did everything they could to get us the result that we\u2019ve seen today.\u201d<\/p>\n Anna Leask is a senior journalist who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 20 years with a particular focus on family and gender-based violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast, A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The jury retired at 12.22pm today, after Justice Mander summed up the case and instructed them on their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1558,75031,2837,36823,1874,3368,63787,296,11156,36822,4275,15360,91,111,43,139,69,1118,124707,675,5843,36821,221720,1530],"class_list":["post-432982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-been","tag-celebrations","tag-during","tag-fleming","tag-found","tag-guilty","tag-hayden","tag-into","tag-killing","tag-lyn","tag-murder","tag-murdering","tag-nelson","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-ploughed","tag-police","tag-senior","tag-sergeant","tag-tasker","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Hayden Tasker. Photo \/ Iain McGregor: The Press<\/p>\n
Police Minister Mark Mitchell, Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay, Lyn Fleming’s sister Jo Brown and brother Mike ‘Woody’ Fleming address media after the guilty verdict.
\nPhoto \/ Anna Leask<\/p>\n