Last week capped off a remarkable recovery for Constable Regan Mauheni. The police officer, now based in Dunedin, returned to frontline duties as a dog handler after being shot in the head during the Kawerau siege last March. He tells Timothy Brown his story.
However, the powerfully built police officer is nonchalant in his appraisal of what went down at 158 Onepu Springs Rd, near Kawerau, Bay of Plenty.
"9 March — I’ll probably never forget that day. It was a pretty rough day at work," he says.
"I was very lucky — very lucky."
Const Mauheni was struck in the head by a .308 bullet which ricocheted off the rifle scope of a fellow AOS member as they stood in the hallway of Rhys Warren’s home.
The AOS was called after Warren fired shots at a police spotter plane during a cannabis recovery operation in the area.
"I remember the whole thing," Const Mauheni says.
"It was our second job that day.
"It just felt like a routine job. We were going through the process."
However, there was nothing routine about what unfolded.
Warren pointed his rifle at the police officers and pulled the trigger.
"Two of us were standing in the hallway and the first round he let go clipped the rifle of the guy in front of me and just hit me," he said.
"I haven’t seen him yet [Warren].
"He held the rifle around the corner and bam bam.
"I just fell over straight on my back. I was knocked out.
"I woke up to hearing rifles — gunshots.
"I tried to roll out of the way, but I couldn’t move.
"I knew what had happened and I knew I was in a bit of a mess.
"My goggles were shattered and they filled up with blood.
"One of the boys grabbed me by my body armour. It shows what adrenaline can do, because I was weighing 110kg and probably 20kg of body armour and he dragged me out by one arm."
In total, AOS members fired 46 shots inside the house and Warren also injured two other officers.
A fourth officer was shot later during the 22-hour siege. Const Mauheni was the most seriously injured, but again his appraisal downplayed the seriousness.
"They said I was status one. There’s only one below that — status zero, which is dead. But I felt all right.
"I knew it wasn’t very good if they were shipping me to Waikato."
Const Mauheni underwent surgery to remove shrapnel from his neck and head, part of his brain was removed and a steel plate was inserted to protect the fragmented section of his skull where the bullet entered.
Some shrapnel still remains in the centre of his brain, too dangerous to remove.
Memory loss, pain and frustration followed.
"I was calling my dogs by the wrong name and that kind of thing," he said.
"I spent nine days in Waikato, where they ran daily mental tests on me — I failed those seven days in a row."
He was transferred to ABI Rehabilitation in Auckland — a specialist centre for rehabilitation following acute brain injuries.
"I spent two weeks there trying to rehab the brain," he said.
"I had never been in a situation like that where I didn’t have control before.
"I had to learn to read the newspaper and to recite stories out of the newspaper."
The avid sportsman also lost 10kg of muscle during his first week in hospital.
Despite the extent of his injuries, he made his intentions clear to doctors and his employer.
"Straight away I was like ‘Let’s get me back to work’," he said.
"The surgeon said ‘Why do you want to go back to a job that took your life away’?"
Far from taking his life, policing had provided him with meaning and was the only job Const Mauheni had ever wanted.Supported by police, his family and partner, Katie — who is also an officer — he was able to return to work in a limited capacity by August 1 last year, less than five months after he was shot.
"My surgeon said ‘Your recovery has been amazing for someone who been shot and has had brain surgery’. To get back to work within a year is unheard of," he said.
"There’s people who fell on the carpet and knocked their heads and are worse off than me."
He shifted to Dunedin in October, to work alongside his "best mate", Dunedin dog section supervisor Sergeant Mike Calvert, and began training dog Paikea as an 8-week-old puppy in November.
A return to full-time policing work followed in March this year and last week Const Mauheni again became operational as a dog handler when he borrowed 7-year-old Tua from Invercargill’s dog section.
"I just put it down to a positive mindset," he said.
Even more remarkably, Const Mauheni rejoined the AOS about two months ago.
"That’s a common question that gets asked. ‘How are you going to be when you go back on a job or go down a hallway?’ and it doesn’t bother me at all,’’ he said.‘‘I was stoked to be back.
"You train to be the best and to be at those high-end jobs.
"It [the Kawerau siege] is just another job that went a bit bad."
As for Warren, Const Mauheni said he had not wasted time dwelling on his actions.
"I don’t even think about him. He’s just a guy we don’t need on our streets."
● Warren was found guilty in March of two counts of attempted murder, three charges of firing at a police officer and one charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm relating to the siege.He will be sentenced next week.
