Brave, courageous and exceptional - just a few of the words used by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy to describe recipients of the Royal Humane Society of New Zealand silver medal.
Zane Paki recieves his medal from Dame Patsy Reddy. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The medals are awarded for acts of bravery where rescuers put their own lives at risk to assist others whose lives were in peril.
Ten people, including Auckland painter Zane Paki, were awarded the medal at a ceremony this afternoon at Government House in Wellington.
Mr Paki was working in the AWI International Education Group building on Queen Street in May 2015 when Mandeep Singh stabbed his wife, Parmita Rani, to death.
Mr Paki stepped in and took Singh's knife after he then turned on another man.
He said at that point he did not realise Mrs Rani had already been killed.
"When I took the knife off him and he turned around and faced me [I could see] she was on the ground dead. My heart just went poof and it was like woah, this has just gone from an attempted murder, to murder," he said.
"If I had seen that first I probably would have done it differently, I'd have just picked up my ladder and knocked him out straight away."
Singh had five knives in total, and Mr Paki held him until police arrived.
Singh is now serving life in jail, with a minimum non-parole period of 13 years for murder and attempted murder.
Mr Paki said he would do it again if he had to.
"My wife said, 'did you ever think about us' and I was like 'no, I didn't actually I just went and done it'.
"At the time it was just adrenaline and just wanted to do what I had to, what was in front of you."
Rory Clarke was presented with a medal after saving an elderly man whose car ended up in a Christchurch estuary in March last year. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Another recipient was Rory Clarke who along with his friend Oliver Beaumont saved elderly man Bruce Imrie after his car ended up in a Christchurch estuary in March last year.
Mr Imrie's wife Maureen, who was also in the car could not be saved.
"Just as I got there the car went down with Bruce and [Oliver] and I went down after the car as far as I could go, couldn't see a thing. I came up and waited for what felt like an eternity and then Ollie and Bruce came up, but unfortunately Maureen didn't."
He said since the rescue he and Mr Imrie had stayed in touch.
"A few months down the line Bruce contacted me and wanted to go for a beer and we have done a couple of times now. I like to think we're friends now because of that... he's doing okay."
Air Dynasty medical team Andrew Gutsell, Alyssa Lowe and Andrew Roy were also recognised for their bravery after a dramatic plane salvage mission in Nepal.
In May last year a cargo plane crashed near Tenzing Hillary Airport.
Bravery medal recipients at Royal Humane Society of New Zealand Presentation Ceremony. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The pilot, Andrew Gutsell, said for 17 hours straight the trio administered first aid, helped patients get to hospital and kept the 400-strong crowd of survivors and civilians under control.
"It was a bit of a saga, a lot happened in that 17 hours. There was a lot of crowd control, a lot of mitigation of risk for the local people that were swarming around the wreckage and a lot of triaging for the patients onboard the aircraft," he said.
Other award winners include Grant Wooding who rescued a man out of a burning car in Geraldine two years ago.
Policemen Billy-ray Slight and Aaron Wilkins who saved a man from the swollen Hutt River in June 2016.
And Nan Xia and Junao Zhang who saved a woman who was stuck in a sinking car in May 2016.
