STUNNED residents of the New Zealand hamlet of Raurimu struggled yesterday to cope with a shotgun massacre which left six people dead and five seriously wounded, shattering their peaceful community.
A 22 year old man who was arrested naked a few hours after Saturday's killings, which local residents said began at a family reunion, was charged in court with the murder of one of the victims, Mr Hendrick Derek Young Van de Wetering.
Mr Stephen Anderson, an unemployed man from Wellington, showed no emotion as he appeared barefoot and in police overalls in Taumarunui District Court, 21 miles from Raurimu. The bearded man with cropped hair was remanded in custody to appear in Hamilton District Court on Wednesday.
A psychiatric report was ordered. No application was made for bail or suppression of his name.
In Raurimu the horror of the killings had not yet sunk in. "For this to happen, it's just devastating," said Ms Julie Hurley, who was in the North Island town near the active volcano Mount Ruapehu at the time of the murders.
Saturday's slaying is the fifth mass slaughter in the 1990s which has shocked New Zealand and undermined its image as a safe and peaceful place.
The gunman started his rampage at the Raurimu Lodge, used by skiers frequenting Mount Ruapehu's ski slopes during the winter season, police said. (New Zealand is now in mid summer.)
They said bodies were strewn in a 200 yard radius as the killer blasted his way from the lodge to the main road.
Local residents and other reports said the victims included the father of the alleged gunman, his wife and other relatives, all, shot during a family reunion. They said he had a history of psychiatric problems. Police would not confirm those reports.
An inquiry into New Zealand's gun laws is already under way in the wake of the Port Arthur and Dunblane massacres in Australia and Britain last year, but it is not due to report until June.
New Zealand has 11 times as many guns per capita as Britain and 60 per cent more than Australia, possibly reflecting a high proportion of people living in the countryside and keeping guns for pest control and game shooting.
The Police Minister, Mr Jack Elder, said he would review the situation. "We've had the problem for a long time and we have let it get out of control. I want to; see it [a review] done as quickly as possible like everyone else but I'd prefer to get it right than rush into something and not get it right," he said.