Vivian Dudding

Constable Vivian Dudding remains the only police officer murdered on duty in Wellington. On 6 October 1919, on a break from his duties at Parliament, Dudding went home to Brook Street, Thorndon, for tea. At around 6.30pm a man called to say a neighbour who lived a couple of doors away at No 9 was in danger from her ex-husband, who was trying to get into her house. The ex, Alexander Aspin, was "mad with drink" and had threatened her in the past. The woman fled through her front door as Aspin tried to force the back. Dudding left his tea, put on his uniform and went to investigate. By the time he got to No 9 Aspin was inside and setting the curtains alight. Dudding was looking in through the kitchen window when Aspin shot him in the head at close range. Fire fighters arrived quickly from the nearby fire station and a large contingent of Dudding's colleagues surrounded the house. The fire was put out and, when Aspin was seen setting curtains alight upstairs, that too was dealt with. A shot was heard and Aspin was found unconscious upstairs, having shot himself. Both men died within hours. At Dudding's funeral at Karori Cemetery on 10 October, Commissioner of Police John O'Donovan gave a graveside eulogy comparing the policeman's duty to that of the soldier - no doubt with real resonance so soon after the First World War. "The soldier in battle is often liable to be ambushed, but the police officer throughout his whole career is liable to fall into the ambushes which exist in the dark streets and alleys, the burglared dwelling or shop, in the unprepared encounter with the lunatic, the drunkard, the street rowdy, and the domestic disturber. At all times he literally carries his life in his hands." A monument was paid for by police nationwide. Dudding was 32 years old and from Auckland. He was well known in Whangärei where he had previously served and had married the daughter of a local Police sergeant. They had no children and had been in Wellington for four or five years. A report said Dudding was "keen at his work" and "much esteemed for his quiet and unassuming manner". Aspin was 48 years old, a Norwegian migrant and dock worker. He and his wife married in 1906 but she had obtained separation orders a number of times because of his behaviour. In July 1918 Aspin had tried to kill himself by drinking poison in the back yard at Brook Street; in September he was jailed for seven days for being drunk and having "further besetted his wife… by molesting her and haunting her dwelling place". The court was told: "He will not get away from the unfortunate woman, and will not leave her alone." Aspin had been in court on similar matters the previous week. In December 1918 his wife obtained a divorce. Aspin had in the past threatened to "do for" police, and there was speculation that Dudding had indeed walked into an ambush. In 2010 Dudding's grave was cleaned and repaired by NZ Police and the Police Association. At the rededication on 6 October, Commissioner of the day Howard Broad read his predecessor's eulogy. No one mentioned Aspin, his grave just a few rows away unmarked, overgrown and forgotten. Source: Posted 7th July 2013 by Underground History http://undergroundhistory.blogspot.com/2013/07/in-line-of-duty-cons...

On 6 October 1919 Constable Dudding was at home in Brook Street, Thorndon, Wellington, when he was called to a neighbour's house, where the occupant's ex-husband was causing trouble. Constable Dudding, 32, put on his tunic and went back on duty. As he looked through a ground-floor window of the neighbour's house, he was shot in the head. The gunman - an alcoholic who had previously been jailed for harassing his wife - set fire to the house before shooting himself. Constable Dudding and the offender both died in hospital that night. Source: https://www.facebook.com/NewZealandPoliceMuseum/posts/constable-viv...