Hostage heroism recognised
Woman confronted gunman who later took her and five others captive
From confronting a gunman to a daring helicopter rescue in whiteout conditions and a rescue from a burning car, seven New Zealanders have been recognised for their bravery.
The seven were presented with the Royal Humane Society silver medal, for acts of bravery where rescuers put their own lives at risk to help assist others whose lives were in peril.
Governor-general Dame Cindy Kiro presented the medals at Government House in Wellington yesterday.
Confronting a gunman
Naomi Gedye was one of six people taken hostage by an ‘‘angry, agitated’’ gunman.
She was enjoying a family holiday at the Vinegar Hill camping ground near the Rangitīkei River, north of Feilding, in late December 2017, when she saw a man driving erratically and following a woman and her son.
Gedye attempted to stop and calm him down but he pointed a firearm at her. She persuaded the man to remove the magazine from the firearm.
When he put it on the passenger seat, she picked it up. She threw it away but he found it and went back to his car. He then drove at her, stopping just short of hitting her.
She was later one of six people taken hostage in a campervan. The man was persuaded to release four of the hostages but Gedye and the driver had to leap from the moving vehicle to escape. The gunman was later arrested by police.
Given the remote nature of the campground, she knew help would take time to get there, Gedye said. Her main thought during the incident was to ‘‘keep him away’’ from her family.
‘‘I would do anything to make sure my family is safe,’’ she said.
Gedye was commended for being ‘‘particularly courageous in confronting an armed man, engaging in conversation with him and trying to dispose of the firearm’s magazine’’. ‘‘Her initiative and bravery during the hostage situation resulted in the safe release of four hostages, the escape of the driver and herself, and the arrest of the gunman,’’ her commendation read. First on the scene If it were not for the bravery of former firefighter Paul Gerritsen, a critically injured woman involved in a fiery crash in Hamilton might not be alive.
Gerritsen was one of the first to arrive on the scene moments after a car travelling along Kahikatea Drive in Hamilton hit a large traffic signage pole and caught fire on the morning of April 22, 2020. He dragged the driver, who was lying unconscious near the driver’s door, away from the vehicle.
As fire began to take hold of the inside of the car, he used brute strength to extract a woman who was trapped inside, and who had suffered severe, critical injuries. All three passengers were taken to hospital in a critical condition.
Alpine rescue in white-out conditions
In deteriorating, white-out conditions on Mt Rolleston, two rescuers used their thermos of coffee to guide helicopter pilots to winch them to safety.
Anna Brooke and Michael Smith of Alpine Rescue Canterbury (formerly Alpine Cliff Rescue), were part of a team of five sent to help after two climbers became stranded on one of the highest peaks in Arthur’s Pass National Park, in October last year.
Helicopter pilots Henry Deans, Angus Taylor and Jeffrey Davies were recognised for their part in the rescue, working in a chopper stripped back to bare essentials, in an alpine environment where freezing levels were rising and several loose, wet avalanches were observed.
Wind gusts and the unknown stability and angle of the mountainside near a large bluff made winching conditions in the white-out conditions challenging, with a possibility the helicopter would not be able to return.
After locating the climbers in an improvised small snow-shelter on the summit, Brooke and Smith guided them to a lower spot where they could wait for the helicopter. The climbers were winched to safety but descending cloud made picking up Brooke and Smith almost impossible until a lucky break in the clouds.
Spreading coffee over the fresh snow, they were able to give the pilots reference definition on the slope enabling them to be pulled onboard. ‘‘This mountain rescue was a team effort in a precarious situation for everyone involved,’’ the commendation said.