Op Top City – a combined district effort

Members of the Auckland City-based Operation Top City inquiry team, Detective Jason Edwards, left and Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Benefield.		Detective Sergeant Andrew Saunders at the Haywards Hill scene, north of Wellington, where the murder weapon was discovered. Andrew worked on the operation while in Auckland and continued with Wellington-based inquiries when he moved to Waitangirua, near Porirua.

A life sentence handed down to 55-year-old Wan Yee Chow in the Auckland High Court on 15 February, proved a significant day for the inter-district inquiry team who have worked long and hard on Operation Top City.

Chow was jailed for life with a 17-year minimum non-parole period for his execution-style shooting of Tam Yam Ah in Auckland in July 2005.

Auckland City CIB Supervisor, Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Benefield, says it was a difficult inquiry which needed hard work to find the evidence to implicate Chow and have him convicted. Language barriers and alleged Asian organised crime connections made the task problematic from the outset.

“It is difficult to get (people in many immigrant communities) to trust us and tell us what they know,” says Mark.

Tam, a known criminal with previous jail-time, was murdered by Chow with a single gun-shot to the chest. Tam was returning to his Symonds Street karaoke bar in inner-city Auckland.

Chow had traveled from Wellington to Auckland to carry out the killing and fled back to the Capital afterward with his accomplice, who then buried the gun and ammunition.

Auckland City Field Crime Supervisor, Detective Inspector Bernie Hollewand, says the operation was a real team effort.

“Contributions from around the country combined to deliver the result,” says Bernie.

“I’ve not been involved in an operation with such a spread of staff and resources since the Rainbow Warrior inquiry.”

Within a few weeks of the shooting, the focus of the inquiry centred on Chow and a Wellington associate. The team set up at the Naenae CPC with many local operational staff helping with warrants and searching, and police specialists called in for more covert aspects.

“The inquiry team would not have got near some of the witnesses, or eliminated some of the suspects, without the knowledge and experience of the AMCOS Asian Organised Crime team,” says Bernie.

“An area fraught with trips and traps was negotiated without a hitch.”

Chow’s criminal accomplice, whose name remains suppressed, became a Crown witness and received immunity from prosecution. He gave evidence against Chow, telling the court he saw him loading a gun before shooting Tam in the chest.

“Turning the man from a criminal accomplice into a Crown witness was no easy task, says Bernie.

“Staff in Wellington and Auckland who carried out inquiries into him and delivered him to Court fit to give the necessary evidence have to be acknowledged. Everyday business sees most of us focused on crime and crash reduction in our local communities, and that’s as it should be,” says Bernie.

“Operation Top City illustrated that when the need arose, many disparate workgroups around the country could work together to deliver an excellent result.

“I want to record the appreciation of Auckland City staff for all the assistance and the many kindnesses extended to them whilst they were working away from home. I’m sure, and Operation Top City illustrates, that we’re a highly effective national police service.”