Taxpayers face $20k bill after failed raid

Owners lay IPCA complaint after police wreck home in fruitless hunt for fugitive. Craig Hoyle reports.

Police have been forced to pay accommodation costs for a couple and could be liable for another $20,000 in clean-up costs after they shot up an innocent man’s home.

Napier couple Greg Cummins and Leigh Cornish are furious their home was torn apart as police searched for fugitive Shawn Nicholas Harding.

‘‘I"m a hard bitch, I don’t usually cry, but I’m pretty upset,’’ Cornish said.

Police put the couple up in a motor lodge for a week following the January 27 raid, but they’ve now been forced to return home because there’s no accommodation available over Waitangi weekend.

The house is still a mess despite the best efforts of professional cleaners.

‘‘You run your fingers along the headboard, and tear gas [residue] still comes off,’’ Cornish said.

Police believed Harding, a wanted criminal, was inside the property when they raided it.

Hawke’s Bay acting area commander, Inspector Andrew Sloan, said they were acting on a tip-off, but refused to give more details.

Officers refused to believe Cummins when he told them Harding wasn’t in their house.

He also told them he hadn’t seen his friend for more than a fortnight, and had told Harding to stay away after hearing he was in trouble with the law again.

But police were convinced had tracked down their man. they

They laid siege to the house, firing tear gas canisters and flash grenades, breaking multiple windows, and also damaging a car and campervan on the property. Harding remains at large. The bungled raid has left Cummins and Cornish counting the cost as they try to clean up their ruined home.

Glass has been replaced in two ranch slider doors and seven windows, costing thousands of dollars.

All carpet and lino is being replaced through the house – that’s going to cost another $4600.

Curtains and bedding have also had to be replaced, along with the mattress on the couple’s bed.

A window had to be replaced Cummins’ campervan.

Cummins and Cornish spent a week at Deco City Motor Lodge, adding more than $1000 to the bill.

Added to that, three cleaners from Boulevard Services have been at the house every day scrubbing and cleaning as they try to remove residual tear gas.

The manager of the company said police had ordered him not to tell media how much the cleaning would cost.

Cummins estimates the total will come to at least $20,000.

‘‘Basically they destroyed our lives, and walked away thinking it was all going to be OK,’’ he said.

Cummins has laid a complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority over the raid. in bill