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Stewart Guthrie jnr, son of Sergeant Stewart Guthrie who died at Aramoana. - Source: Sunday -
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Twenty years on from New Zealand's worst shooting - the Aramoana massacre - the son of the police sergeant who died on the day has spoken out.
Stewart Guthrie jnr is the son of Sergeant Stewart Guthrie who was one of 13 people slain by David Gray on November 13, 1990, in the seaside town of Aramoana about 30 kilometres out of Dunedin.
He told Sunday that over the years he was angry that his father had left him fatherless through his bravery, and it's taken him years to come to terms with it.
"He did put himself in harm's way deliberately. He did go out of his way to put himself in place to stop worse things happening."
Sergeant Guthrie was the town's local officer and was the first man into the situation after Gray opened fire on innocent men, women and children.
He was 41 years old, about the same age as his son is now, when he was shot dead by Gray.
Guthrie says he now understands why his father responded to the call for help.
"Because that's what he was. He was a community sergeant. He was the first person there. The answer is - who else is going to be the first man in?"
He said his father could never have held back.
"Not when he knows that people's lives were threatened, not at all. Knowing my father, he could never have held back, no," he told Cameron Bennett, doing a special report for Sunday.
Guthrie said he had often been warned by his father to stay away from Gray, and told not to engage in conversation with the paranoid loner.
"He said just keep walking and ignore him is the best thing to do," Guthrie said.
Sergeant Guthrie was told on the day that the rules of engagement were clear. The police officer was told to call on Gray to surrender and if he didn't Gray could be shot.
But Guthrie jnr feels that was probably to his father's disadvantage.
"He had to identify himself as a policeman, as he did, and say that he was armed. It's easy for me to say, and I will, it probably cost him his life having to do that.
"That's what I feel because he had to do those things - identify himself verbally ... to an armed man with an automatic rifle. It's insanity."
Sergeant Stewart Guthrie became Gray's last victim.
"I was very angry, very angry," Guthrie jnr said. "Did you not think about us at the time? It took me a long time to realise... he put himself in harm's way deliberately. Instead of being angry I'm now immensely proud of that."
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