On the 7th of May 2009, Senior Constables Len Snee, Grant Diver and Bruce Miller arrived at 41 Chaucer Rd in Napier to serve a search warrant on Jan Molenaar for the growing of cannabis. This was just a routine warrant, something they had done countless times. What was meant to be an ordinary procedure turned into three of New Zealand’s darkest days and ended with one police officer dead, two officers critically injured and a member of the public fighting for his life. In some fifty hours Jan Molenaar made a permanent and devastating imprint upon the national psyche of New Zealand as he changed the lives of individuals, families, a police community, and a city. The siege was one of the worst and unexpected cases of violence both Napier and New Zealand had witnessed and it was all the more shocking because of its ordinary suburban backdrop.
Acting
Mark Mitchinson's Molenaar is terrifyingly ordinary.
Direction
Mike Smith refuses to sensationalise real tragedy.
Production
Shot on location—those streets remember.
Director
Mike Smith
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 2009 siege fundamentally changed NZ policing; armed response teams were trialled partly because of this case.
Local Napier residents were used as extras—some had actually been evacuated during the real siege.
US
NZ
