27 May 2011

Napier gunman's house to be seized by Crown

8:41 pm on 27 May 2011

The house at the centre of a fatal Napier siege in 2009 involving gunman Jan Molenaar is to be seized by the Crown.

Molenaar, 51, was found dead in his home in 2009 after a two-day siege which began when he shot at three police officers, killing Senior Constable Len Snee.

Delwyn Keefe, who had been living with Molenaar, was convicted of selling cannabis and possessing the drug for supply in 2009.

In the Napier High Court on Friday, Justice Douglas White ordered the forfeiture of the property and about $20,000 which he was satisfied came from drug sales.

Judge White ruled that the house, valued at $215,000, and the money were tainted by Keefe's offending.

Keefe's lawyer opposed the seizure, arguing that forfeiture would be disproportionate to her crimes and that all she had left from the carnage of the siege was the family home.

Lawyers for all parties will now meet to arrange the sale of the Chaucer Road house in the suburb of Hospital Hill.

But Napier real estate agent Warwick McIntyre, from Property Brokers, believes the house will be almost impossible to sell.

"Buyers just don't want to be associated with such a tragedy and history. It's not a property that will be attractive to anyone."