Manhunt in stalemate

Press, 11 February 1986, Page 1

Manhunt in stalemate

By

PETER COMER

It was stalemate between the police and Paul Patterson, alias Sonny White, as dusk fell over the Urewera National Park last evening. Sonny White has “gone bush” after a double fatal shotgun shooting in Taupo on Saturday, and the police admit that it might be a long manhunt. The 26-year-old Maori grew up in the inhospitable bush and forest-clad hills of the Ikawhenua Range where he is be-

lieved to be hiding. “It is his country. He has a lot of local knowledge,” Senior-Sergeant Max Jones, of the Rotorua police told “The Press.” “While he stays in there, everything favours him.”

The armed offenders squad and regular police went into the bush to look for White at Waiohau, 40km north of Murupara, after the shooting in a Taupo house in which a man died and a woman suffered severe leg in-

juries. Wallace Tahau, aged 38, of Waitahanui, died of stomach wounds. Audrey White, aged 24, a housewife, is in a satisfactory condition in Taupo Hospital after surgery. Sonny White was known to the police before the incident, according to Senior-Sergeant Jones. Inquiries since have built up a picture of the wanted man, an accomplished bushman and pig hunter with extensive local knowledge.

“We are talking about thousands of square miles here,” said Senior-Ser-geant Jones. He said that the police had not discounted the possibility that White might receive some help. Rather than continue hunting the bush for White, the police team was preparing to spend last night in Waiohau, awaiting developments. “It is a stalemate. We just have to wait and hope for a sighting,” said Senior-Sergeant Jones.