An officer & a gentleman ‘MATT WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN'

The brave mother of a young policeman who was shot and killed in Auckland shares her grief over the loss of her son

- Cloe Willetts

On a quiet Friday afternoon last year, Diane Hunt was happily prepping dinner for her son Matthew Hunt, a young constable with the New Zealand Police, who’d planned to visit after his shift. She’d bought fresh ingredients to make his favourite salmon and pasta, before sitting down to enjoy a cup of tea and read the news. But the 28-year-old never arrived. During a routine traffic stop in Massey, West Auckland, Matt was shot and killed.

“I was looking at a news website when that red line came across the top and it said two police had been shot in Massey. I thought, ‘Well, Matthew doesn’t work in Massey. He told me he was working on the Auckland Harbour Bridge,’” recalls Diane, 63, sharing her heartbreaking story exclusively with the Weekly. “I thought, ‘How awful because Matthew will know who they are.’ Then it said one of them was dead, so I texted him and asked if he was okay, and he never replied.”

On June 19, 2020, Diane’s precious son was shot in the back four times and left on the road to die, as his killer fled the scene in a getaway car. The crime shocked the nation and stripped the hospital administrator of her only son, who she describes as a hard-working, modest, well-liked and compassionate young man.

“I opened the front door to see police and just cried, knowing it had to be Matthew,” Diane sobs, remembering the moment she learnt the slain officer was Matthew. “I had disbelief for a long time. Going through the funeral, it’s very hard to believe your own son has died. Having raised my children on my own, I was looking forward to watching Matthew grow in his career and live up to his potential, both professionally and in his personal life. But now it’s not going to happen.”