Emotional moment NZ Police perform powerful haka for fallen colleague Constable Matthew Hunt

Publish Date
Thursday, 9 July 2020, 3:56PM

A moving haka echoed around Eden Park in Auckland today, as hundreds of New Zealand Police officers paid tribute to their fallen colleague, Constable Matthew Hunt.

The emotional moment came at the end of the 28-year-old's funeral, as his coffin - draped with a police flag - was carried out of the private service by his colleagues, following a lone police piper.

As the Eagle helicopter circled above, the coffin was placed on a plinth on the stadium's ground as his colleagues performed a flag ceremony.

Following the powerful haka, as sombre silence resumed, Hunt was lifted into the back of the hearse and driven through a full guard of honour - again led by the piper, a police car with flashing lights, flag bearers and fully uniformed police dogs.

His family and close friends walked behind him on his final formal journey as a police officer.

Hunt and another colleague were shot at during a routine traffic stop in Massey, Auckland on June 19. A member of the public was also injured after being hit by a vehicle as it allegedly fled the scene.

A man has been charged with Hunt's murder while a 30-year-old woman has been charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder for allegedly helping the alleged gunman as a driver "in order to enable him to avoid arrest."

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