Mr Noel Jones, of Auckland, New Zealand Bravery Decoration for an act of exceptional bravery in a situation of danger
On the morning of 1 May 2020, a woman was set alight by her tenant while she was in her parked car on the driveway of her Auckland home. The offender poured petrol to intensify the fire as the woman moved from the burning vehicle onto the grass verge separating her driveway from that of her neighbour, Mr Noel Jones. Mr Jones had awoken to the woman’s screaming and, seeing the woman and car on fire, grabbed his fire extinguisher and ran across to her property. He extinguished the fire on the woman before attempting to extinguish the burning car. The car fire was too intense, so Mr Jones retreated and asked another neighbour to call emergency services, before returning to the woman. The offender had reappeared from the woman’s house and approached her with a knife. Mr Jones tried to intervene and reason with him, but the offender ignored him and attacked the woman. Mr Jones tried to hold the offender’s arms and protect the victim, but the offender was too strong and inflicted a serious cut on the woman before returning inside the house. Mr Jones, noting the woman’s severe injuries and wanting to get her to safety, returned to his house and opened his garage door. He got the woman to move towards the garage and grabbed a gardening fork for protection. The woman fell and was unable to reach the garage. Mr Jones positioned himself between the woman and her driveway in case the offender returned. Mr Jones remained there until firefighters arrived and tended to the woman, who later died at the scene from her injuries. Mr Jones demonstrated exceptional bravery in confronting an armed man and intervening when the man attacked the already injured woman with a knife, in an attempt to prevent further harm and remove the woman to safety.