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THE RAID WAS recreated in the High Court, with footage from the Eagle police helicopter broadcast on the walls behind the press bench, and the sergeant narrating. The High Court heard that the STG gathered at 4.30am on the day of the raid for a final briefing. Members were told Dotcom “represents himself as a gangster”. Notes read: “Disrespect for police. Has photos of himself carrying firearms.” The STG went from the briefing to the helicopter, flying with doors open through the dawn to Coatesville. Then, the sergeant described running from the helicopter inside the main doors and up the staircase to Dotcom’s room.

Davison played CCTV footage showing vans of police arriving up the driveway as the helicopter lifted off. So was it really any faster using helicopters, was the underlying question. The sergeant said: “Both vehicles arrived in a very short space of time after the helicopter.” He described breaching the door to Dotcom’s sanctuary, tracking his missing quarry through the large bedroom and day-bed area and losing him to the hidden panic room.

Didn’t you go to the local authority and request building maps, which would have shown where the panic room was located; asked Davison. “That is our general practice,” the sergeant said. “However, operational security was identified as a higher priority and we were, much to my displeasure . . . we were prevented from going and sourcing more detailed plans.” He had tried to raise the issue, he told the court. “Look, we need some more detail than this. This isn’t detailed enough.”

The sergeant said the kind of operation the STG conducts needs better information. The request was met with an instruction from a senior officer not to seek out the building plans.

The sergeant recalled searching for the panic room. Upon finding the dumbwaiter, he told his team: “We need to clear that.” Someone tried the button and it didn’t open. “Well, we need it clear. See if you can find your way in there.” The sergeant said he was aware the team “tried to operate the actual mechanism” before using hammers to smash their way into it from the ground floor.

As they did, the sergeant said, he looked out the first floor bedroom window and saw Tempero. The mystery of Dotcom’s disappearance was solved by asking where he was. The bodyguard took officers to the secret door leading to the panic room. From there, the sergeant and three others made their way into the room — past the officer who had already been into it and opened the gun safe — and towards Dotcom.

The arrest was quick, he said. Dotcom was co-operative and not harmed, other than one officer treading on a finger while trying to put

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