Suspicion and fear linger for 35 years
Peter Dijkstra returned to New Zealand fearful the police would be waiting at the airport for him.
The 88-year-old has long been a suspect in the 1984 Trades Hall bombing case and, despite assurances he was no-longer considered such, a ‘‘demanding’’ detective knocked on his door for a DNA sample in June.
Police have subsequently announced they have renewed interest in the 35-year-old cold case and are following leads related to a key suspect, revealed by Stuff to be retired marine engineer Edgar Kidman.
The case continues to be investigated and detectives are trawling through material evidence from the bomb — which killed Trades Hall caretaker Ernie Abbott — in the hope of finding residual DNA.
Dijkstra, who says the decades of suspicion have destroyed his life, found no police officers waiting for him when he arrived home this week from a months-long trip to his native Netherlands.
He reiterated he had nothing to do with the crime, and did not know of fellow suspect Kidman.
Sitting in Dijkstra’s deteriorating home, which he has refused to maintain after two police searches for evidence, his wife Pranee says her husband wakes every morning thinking of the police. The acute stress has troubled their relationship.
The former public servant worked next door to the Trades Hall in 1984, and came to police attention after witnessing the explosion’s aftermath.
During a time when hundreds were interviewed for the investigation, he was hauled into the Crime Investigation Branch’s office across the road from the Trades Hall in May 1984.
‘‘That day they left me with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], my head was buzzing. These are not just policemen, they bloody sadists.
‘‘A man’s home is supposed to be his castle, not in my case. They turned it over twice.’’
Dijkstra has written to most police ministers and commissioners in the intervening decades, making a plea for confirmation of his innocence.
Police confirmed he was off the suspect list in 2001, though he remained fearful of another raid. Dijkstra says a local inspector also confirmed he was not a suspect in November but then came the door knock in June.
He provided
DNA sample.
‘‘Why should I not? I could have refused and maybe that would have given me a look of guilt. I have nothing to hide; I complied.’’
Dijkstra says if someone is charged for the crime, he could mount a compensation claim.
Police have been working through numerous small and burnt fragments of the bomb for potential DNA samples.
Detective Senior Sergeant Warwick McKee was unavailable for comment.
Speaking to Stuff earlier this month, he said investigators intended to wait for the findings from all the evidence before evaluating success. the are sought-after The Dominion Post published details of Dijkstra’s police interview in 2005, after the suspect obtained portions of his police file.
He was questioned for several hours, taken back to his home to see police searching it, and returned to the station for more questions.
A interview transcript showed he was falsely accused of having an affair with a married woman, suggested he planted the bomb because he had a grudge against unions because of his Carpenters’ Union dispute, and had been affected by the bus strike the day before the blast.
Dijkstra became upset and ‘‘agitated’’ at the line of questioning:
Detective: What do you know about explosives?
Dijkstra: Not much.
Detective: What do you mean by that?
Dijkstra: I’ve used guns. I’ve got a Ramset [nail gun] at home. That uses explosives.
Detective: Peter, I feel that you know something about the Trades Hall bombing. That’s the reason you’ve been uptight over the past week,