Police probe deathbed confession
Police are investigating claims that doctors at Auckland City Hospital kept a deathbed confession of ‘‘contract killings’’ secret, in the hopes that the victims can be identified.
The elderly patient told members of his palliative care team that he had performed several ‘‘contract killings,’’ while involved in a gang about 40 to 50 years ago, which he believed may never have been solved.
Doctors assured the man, named Shaun, that his confession would be confidential, and did not inform police.
Detective Inspector Uraia Vakaruru said police took any claims of such nature ‘‘very seriously and police are in discussions with the DHB’’.
‘‘We are currently making inquiries to ascertain where this information may have come from.’’
Victim advocate Ruth Money said police should question the individual doctors involved.
‘‘If the doctors aren’t going to go to the police, because they haven’t shown any kind of caring previously, then the police should request or demand an interview . . . so that anything they could glean – gender, age, anything regarding his victims, could be noted down.
Money described the doctors’ decision as ‘‘abhorrent’’.
‘‘How dare the medical profession decide that [the victims’ rights] came behind everyone else’s? It’s genuinely a shock. I could not comprehend that someone thought that was OK, especially a medical professional. I was astounded.’’
Dr Jarrod Gilbert, a sociology expert at Canterbury University and gang researcher, said the timeline meant the gang the man claimed to be involved in could potentially have been connected to the Mr Asia syndicate, but that ‘‘my instinct is that it’s far fetched,’’ and the patient had probably made it up. Prominent architect Ron Sang believes the family home built by his friend, the late artist Guy Ngan, is an artwork in its own right.
The modernist home in the Lower Hutt suburb of Stokes Valley is up for sale. It was designed and built by Ngan, who died last year aged 91.
Real estate consultant Shelly Young said the house was hard to price given its unique nature and the size of the property. She expected the house to sell for between $600,000 and $800,000.
Sang often stayed at the house when visiting Wellington and said it was an unorthodox but very functional home built with Ngan’s trademark craftsmanship and eye for detail.
Ngan’s daughter, Liz, said the house was intentionally built to let in light which accentuated the art that was always on display and to allow for views of the garden and surrounds.
Wellington-born Ngan studied art in London in the 1950s. On returning to New Zealand he became a public art works consultant with the Ministry of Works. He later worked for Stephenson and Turner Architects before becoming the director of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. In 1986 he became a fulltime artist. Prominent works of Ngan’s include the bronze sculpture on the Reserve Bank building on The Terrace, a large geometric mural on the Archives New Zealand building on Thorndon Quay and the sculpture at the entrance to Stokes Valley.