Ms Vanessa Miller-Andrews, of Dunedin, NZBD for an act of exceptional bravery in a situation of danger
Mid-afternoon on 10 May 2021, a man with a short kitchen knife in each hand attacked a staff member at a supermarket in central Dunedin, causing multiple wounds as she tried to defend herself. Several shoppers and staff in the busy supermarket attempted to restrain the offender during his frenzied attack, which occurred in little over a minute, with four people in total sustaining stab wounds. Ms Vanessa Miller-Andrews was shopping with her husband, Mr Jorge Fuenzalida, at the time of the incident. They heard a scream and went to investigate. They discovered the offender struggling with two staff members and moved to assist. One of the staff members was stabbed several times. During the struggle, Mr Fuenzalida tried to disarm the offender and was stabbed and thrown to the ground. Ms Miller-Andrews tried to drag Mr Fuenzalida away and was grabbed by the offender, who stabbed her twice. The offender then approached Mr Fuenzalida on the floor and stabbed him again. Ms Miller-Andrews attempted to cover Mr Fuenzalida to protect him and received further stab wounds. Mr Fuenzalida, despite his injuries, continued to intervene and was attacked again. While the offender attacked Mr Fuenzalida, two off-duty Police officers and other members of the public intervened to restrain the offender. Uniformed Police then arrived to arrest the offender. Ms Miller-Andrews acted without hesitation to intervene in the struggle when Mr Fuenzalida was stabbed, demonstrating exceptional bravery in her attempts to prevent further harm and receiving life-threatening injuries as a result of her actions.