The Star: August 08, 2019

Thursday August 8 2019 The Star 21
news online at www.star.kiwi
OPINION 21
Fournier and the turbulent 1990s
From the
editor’s desk
Barry Clarke
SWAIN: Left – in the early
90s. Right – During his
murder trial in 2015.
THE UNTIMELY death
of lawyer Tim Fournier
has rekindled a period of
Christchurch’s criminal history
– the turbulent early 1990s.
Fournier, who died from a fall
in his office, was defence lawyer
for Neil Raymond Swain, in
my view the closest thing to an
urban terrorist we have seen –
the March 15 mosque attacks
aside.
He was the key figure in a
reign of terror in Christchurch,
almost certainly prompted by
the police investigation into a
gang at the time – the Harrises.
Fournier was also a defence
lawyer for members of the gang
when they came before the
courts on other matters.
Police were never able to prove
Swain carried out his crimes for,
or as a result of, the crackdown.
He lived by the code of omertà –
the Mafia word for silence.
His crimes included the nail
bombing of the Sydenham police
station, torching a prosecution
witness’ house and breaking into
a policeman’s house and trying
to burn it down.
Fournier defended Swain
admirably but the weight of
evidence was against him:
Electoral rolls with the names of
police and other potential targets
were found in a lock-up he had
hired, he made notes and drew
maps and collected information,
all which fell into the hands of
the police when he was arrested.
The case got huge publicity at
the time.
The bombing of the police
station may well have been the
start of a long terror campaign if
Swain had not have been arrested
– and that was by chance.
He and another armed cooffender
(who has never been
identified) tried to hold up the
Ferrymead Tavern late one night.
But they were thwarted by a staff
member who locked the door
when she saw them coming.
Swain and his co-offender ran,
but Swain had an injured leg
and surrendered to a policeman
despatched to the area. The other
robber got away.
That arrest led police to
a rented lock-up in Upper
Riccarton where nine sticks of
gelignite, detonators, detonator
cord and vehicles were found.
Two sticks of gelignite had been
partly prepared as an explosive
device.
It was the breakthrough they
desperately needed. There was
almost an air of panic coming
from the central police station
in Hereford St – particularly
after an abandoned vehicle
carrying explosives stolen
from a mining site on the West
Coast had crashed en route to
Christchurch.
Police were aware that other
explosives had made it safely to
Christchurch – what was to have
been their use?
When Swain was sentenced,
almost all of the Christchurch
CIB was there to see him sent
down. He was jailed for 12 years.
A complex character, he lived
two lives. He held a steady job
and was regarded as a top worker
by his boss. There was nothing to
alert those close to him what he
was up to.
He also had a sense of fair play
– at times.
When he set the prosecution
witness’ house on fire, she told
him her dog was in the house.
(Swain and his still unidentified
co-offender had taken the
woman and her partner out at
gunpoint).
He went back into the burning
house and rescued the dog.
•Swain was paroled after
serving five and a half years.
He is currently back in prison,
serving a life sentence for the
murder of a man in the North
Island in 2015. As he was sent
down he addressed the judge:
“Well your honour, for once I am
innocent but found guilty . . .”
barry@starmedia.kiwi
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