THE PRO PATRIA PROJECT
JACKMAN Christine Margaret
CITATION
New Zealand Bravery Medal
Special Honours List - 2 April 2011
At approximately 9.45 a.m. on the morning of 7 May 2009 Ms Christine Jackman was leaving her home in Guys Hill Road, on the way to the gym, when she heard a number of what are now known to be gunshots coming from Chaucer Road. Thinking nothing of it at the time, she drove to the northern intersection of Guys Hill Road and Chaucer Road South, where she was waved down by a neighbour and told that there had been a shooting and a man had been seen crawling up a driveway halfway down the hill. Getting out of her car, she could see someone crawling slowly towards one of the houses. Her next door neighbour, Mr Donald Fraser then drove up. The two of them talked for a short while, after which Mr Fraser drove down Chaucer Road South to see if he could help. Seeing Mr Fraser help the injured man to cover behind a fence, Ms Jackman decided that she too would help and drove her red Honda car down Chaucer Road South, parking it behind Mr Fraser's Toyota. On arrival it became clear to her that the injured man was a Police Officer, Senior Constable Bruce Miller, and that he had been shot in the back. At the time, Mr Fraser was talking to the Police on his cell phone. The Police needed to know the address at which they were located, so both of them started to check the letterboxes of the adjacent houses. Two shots fired by the gunman at this time brought their efforts to an abrupt halt and Ms Jackman took cover behind her car. She then saw three Police Officers moving down Chaucer Road towards her position and called to them to come and assist. When they arrived, one of them, Detective Sergeant Smith, asked her if he could use her car to remove Senior Constable Miller to safety. She agreed. On instructions from the Police, both she and Mr Fraser then withdrew up Chaucer Road accompanied by two Police Officers, finally taking cover at No. 51. Ms Jackman acted bravely in going to the assistance of the wounded Police Officer at risk to her own life. The information she provided to Police from a position close to the gunman was influential in their subsequent handling of the incident and enabled the wounded officers to be evacuated from the scene and receive vital medical attention much sooner than might otherwise have been the case.
KNOWN AWARDS
New Zealand Bravery Medal
NOTES
Born
Died
