Flowers outside the Nelson Police Station. Photo: Pretoria Gordon / RNZ
The man accused of killing a police officer has been remanded in custody after appearing in the Nelson District Court.
Nearly every seat in the public gallery was taken on Friday morning, watching as the 32-year-old man walked in to the court room, hunched over.
Judge Richard Russell granted a temporary interim name suppression for one week to allow the accused to advise his family of the charges.
Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming died after she and her colleague, Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsey, were hit by a vehicle in Buxton Square in the early hours of New Year's Day.
Two members of the public were also injured in this incident. One woman received a broken arm and a man who came to assist police was injured in his shoulder. A third police officer was assessed for a concussion and discharged from hospital.
A 32-year-old man is now facing eight charges - including murder, attempted murder, assault using a vehicle as a weapon, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.
He showed no emotion as Judge Russell reminded him of the seriousness of the charges at his first apperance on Friday.
No bail application was made, and he was remanded without plea.
He is due to appear at the High Court in Nelson on 14 February.
Judge Russell also made an order on Friday prohibiting all media - including social media - from publishing a video of the incident.
Outside the Nelson Police Station, next door to the Nelson Courthouse, scores of people delivered flowers, balloons, handwritten cards and letters at the base of the flagpole, where the New Zealand Police flag remained at half-mast on Friday morning.
Marshall Garrett, who cycled to the police station to deliver handpicked flowers. Photo: Pretoria Gordon / RNZ
Marshall Garrett cycled down to deliver handpicked flowers, while Erin Gurnell had driven up from Christchurch to pay her respects.
"I lived here for three years, and you just think this is the absolute last thing that should happen here - or anywhere," she said.
Amelia Boland (middle) and her two children Freddie and Chester delivering flowers. Photo: Pretoria Gordon / RNZ
Amelia Boland had also come down in support of the local police community alongside her two children Freddie and Chester.
"They've lost someone they care about," she told RNZ.
Flowers outside the Nelson Police Station. Photo: Pretoria Gordon / RNZ
It was not only individuals - or families - but people from local shops, restaurants, churches, and community groups too.
Jennifer Macleod, a pastor at Stoke Baptist Church, delivered a large bouquet on behalf of Baptist congregations "in recognition of a very significant loss in our community".
Photo: Pretoria Gordon / RNZ
Teary police staff had also come to collect the cards and letters to give to Fleming's family.
In a statement on Thursday, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said the incident, which claimed the life of the widely-respected police officer with 38 years' frontline service, was "tragic and senseless".
"For New Zealand, Lyn is tragically the first policewoman to be killed in the line of duty and the first police officer in Nelson.
"I know we are all struggling to understand why this has happened."
Chambers said Fleming's family wished to acknowledge Nelson Hospital, the members of the public who came to the assistance of the injured officers, and all of those injured in this incident.
A candlelight vigil will be held on the steps of the Christ Church Cathedral on Friday night in her honour.
