I didn’t know it was loaded: Dad
Court hears of detective’s interview with father, paramedics’ findings Cookbook at the top of its game as it sweeps design awards
Afather whose 2-yearold daughter was shot in the head told a detective he didn’t know the gun was loaded and uttered to a paramedic, “I don’t deserve any sympathy”.
Amokura Daniels-Sanft was shot on June 2 last year — she had been playing in the driveway of her family home in South Auckland.
Her father, Gustav Otto Sanft, 26, is on trial for her manslaughter and has pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a pistol.
The High Court at Auckland was played a video of Sanft’s interview with arresting officer, Detective James Ralph.
“We need to know what happened,” Ralph said.
Sanft offered no response, and was continually wailing.
“She’s gone,” the father cried.
“I need you to tell me what happened, Gustav,” Ralph said. “How did this happen?”
Through tears, Sanft said, “It happened so fast”.
“What happened Gustav?” Ralph replied.
“I had a gun I was swaying it around, I didn’t know it was loaded.
“It all happened so fast ... I don’t know what to think, I don’t know what to say . . . My Amo, my Amo.”
Ralph also made some notes from his interactions with Sanft.
His notes read that Sanft had told him “he had his finger on the trigger and was [swinging the gun] around but not aiming it”.
Ralph also wrote that Sanft said he “did not know it was loaded” and had not checked the firearm before handling it.
The detective also recorded that Sanft mentioned the weapon was left with him by a friend who was now in prison.
Ralph had also noted Sanft said he had tried to fire the gun in the past.
“I tried to fire the gun previously, it did not work,” the detective’s notes read.
Earlier, ambulance officers Christine Watts, Shayna Bennison and Hayley Carter told the court of the “chaotic” scenario they witnessed.
Watts, an intensive care paramedic and the senior officer at scene, said she saw Sanft “pacing up and down, holding the child”.
“We all thought it was a child that had been run over by a car in the driveway, but it didn’t really add up.”
She asked what had happened, before she was alerted to body tissue strewn across the driveway.
Bennison, an emergency medical technician, said the situation was “quite chaotic” and she was charged with looking after Sanft. All she got out of him was howling.
“I asked him if he wanted a hug . . . ‘ cause I didn’t know what else to do.”
She said Sanft replied, “I don’t deserve your sympathy”.
Bennison left the back of the ambulance to aid Amokura’s mum, Julia Daniels, who had collapsed in anguish.
The Herald can also publish photos of the 1.98kg, 450mm long shotgun, which will be produced as a Crown exhibit in the trial.
Sanft is on trial before a jury and Justice Geoffrey Venning. New Zealand’s best-looking book of the past year is a cookbook produced by a game restaurant.
Cazador: game, offal & the rest, written by restaurateurs Dariush Lolaiy and Rebecca Smidt and designed by Tim Donaldson and Amanda Gaskin of Sea Change Studio, took the top prize at a competition where books really are judged by their covers.
The annual PANZ Book Design Awards recognise the designers and artists who make our books look good enough to eat.
Judges declared the design of the book, from familyowned restaurant Cazador, lifted it above simply a cookbook, saying it broke its genre to become something of its own, artful and unique.
As well as the Gerard Reid Award for Best Book, Cazador: game, offal & the rest won the best cookbook and best cover categories. Other awards presented were:
Best Illustrated Book
Beach Life by Douglas Lloyd Jenkins (Penguin Random House) designed by Alan Deare, Area Design.
Best Non-Illustrated Book
Extraordinary Anywhere: Essays on Place from Aotearoa New Zealand edited by Ingrid Horrocks & Cherie Lacey (Victoria University Press) designed by Jo Bailey & Anna Brown.
Best Children’s Book
Annual edited by Kate De Goldi and Susan Paris (Gecko Press) designed by Spencer Levine.
Best Educational Book
Mataki Mai Ana Te Ao: Te Tawhio Pihirei o 1981 by Rachael Tuwhangai, Hone Morris and Pania TahauHodges (HUIA) designed by Tim Hansen, Fay & Walter.
Best Typography
Annual edited by Kate De Goldi and Susan Paris (Gecko Press) designed by Spencer Levine. Auckland’s Sam Bunny was named Young Designer of the Year for a portfolio of books as diverse as The Great Kiwi Pub Crawl to the children’s books Grandad’s Wheelies and The Impossible Boy. The judges were book designers Rowan Sommerset, David Coventon and Anna Egan-Reid along with business commentator, journalist and publisher Vincent Heeringa.