The man who ploughed his car into police during New Year’s celebrations in Nelson, killing Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming, has been sentenced to life for her murder.
There was a muted reaction from the large crowd gathered in the High Court at Nelson this morning as Hayden Donald Jason Tasker, 33, heard he would remain in jail for at least the next 22 years for the violence and “intense chaos” he caused in the first few hours of New Year’s Day, 2025.
A jury found Tasker guilty in May this year of murdering the veteran Nelson police officer with a weapon, being a car, and causing serious harm to another police officer, Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay.
The weight of the loss was something the family experienced every day, Fleming’s daughter Rayna Olsen told a packed courtroom this morning.
She was among 10 victims to speak movingly of their loss in court, most of them family but others colleagues and a member of the public injured in the attack.
Olsen was five months pregnant when Fleming died, and remains grief-stricken that her mother never got to see her being a mum.
“He was her first grandchild; she was so excited to meet him. She talked about slowing down and taking steps back from the police so she could spend more time with family.
“One day he will ask where he got his middle name from and I will have to explain it’s from someone he will never meet,” Olsen read from her victim impact statement.
Tasker remained impassive as he listened, flanked closely by two security staff.
At times, he cast his eyes down, unable to look at those who spoke directly at him.
It was something Ramsay picked up on while giving his victim impact statement.
“The fact you can’t make eye contact with me as I say this speaks volumes,” he said.
Fleming’s son Aren Olsen said they had been “unwilling participants” in a “fiction” since January 1, 2025.
He said he would bear the weight forever of having switched off the life support machine linked to his mortally wounded mother.
Olsen said he would condemn “the offender” forever but would refuse to grant him any more emotional energy by hating him.
Fleming’s husband, Bryn Olsen, flanked by his son and daughter, looked directly at Tasker and told him that after today, he would not give him another thought.
“Lyn will be remembered and you will be forgotten.
“Your actions were cowardly, your refusal to accept responsibility was cowardly. I hope that by the time you’re released you’re too old to hurt anyone else.
“You leave no legacy, you are forgotten,” Bryn Olsen said.
While Tasker denied the most serious charges, he admitted dangerous driving and dangerous driving causing injury at the start of the trial.
Fleming and Ramsay were on foot patrol in central Nelson when, just after 2am, Tasker drove his white Honda Odyssey towards them at speed.
Both officers were hit hard. Ramsay was thrown 8m and suffered serious injuries. Fleming was thrown 20m and was fatally injured. Another officer was concussed.
Tasker was tasered and arrested at the scene, police later said.
He later pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in Nelson’s Buxton Carpark.
At the time he entered the not guilty pleas, he also pleaded guilty and was convicted on charges of drink driving and driving while disqualified, for which he was also sentenced today.
The trial opened in the High Court at Christchurch in early May this year with a jury hearing harrowing details of Fleming’s final moments.
While Tasker accepted he was driving the car, he claimed at trial he was “not guilty of murder, guilty of manslaughter” in relation to Fleming.
A jury found otherwise and delivered guilty verdicts for the murder of Fleming and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to Ramsay, plus the charges linked to the harm caused to others.
In Nelson today, Justice Cameron Mander delivered a lengthy and stern account of the gravity of what had happened.
Fleming, 62, was known locally for her dedication to the role and to the community but has gone down in history as New Zealand’s first female police officer and the country’s 34th officer killed in the line of duty.
She was also the first officer killed in Nelson.
Ramsay and Fleming were on foot patrol just after 2am when Tasker drove at them.
Fleming sustained catastrophic injuries but was resuscitated at the scene before being rushed to Nelson Hospital and placed on life support, until her family could gather at her side to say goodbye.
She died minutes after life support was turned off.
Ramsay was rushed into the surgery that would save his life.
Commissioner Richard Chambers, in announcing Fleming’s death on the afternoon of January 1, labelled it a “tragic, senseless, unprovoked” attack.
Fleming was farewelled at a large service on January 16, 2025, attended by more than a thousand of her family, friends, and colleagues who gathered at Nelson’s Trafalgar Centre.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and other dignitaries were among those in attendance.
The service followed a community candlelight vigil in Nelson attended by thousands.
