LynnMall stabbing inquest hears emotional testimony from brave hero who aided victims
Photo:
Supplied
Two civilians, who'd earlier been awarded bravery medals for their courageous acts during the LynnMall terror attack in 2021, have given emotional testimonies at the inquest of Ahamed Samsudeen - with one of them sharing that they told Samsudeen on the day of the attack, "Your God does not condone this".
Samsudeen stabbed five people, and injured two others at a Countdown supermarket in Auckland's New Lynn, before he was shot and killed by police.
Michael Andrews held back tears as he recounted the events of 3 September 2021, particularly when he spoke of seeing the injured survivors.
Andrews said he heard Samsudeen say to himself "Allahu Akbar" three or four times as he crouched over a victim.
Andrews said he told Samsudeen his actions were wrong.
"I firmly stated 'Your God does not condone this', before I yelled at him," he said.
Michael Andrews, who awareded a New Zealand Bravery Medal for his actions following the mass stabbing, giving witness testimony on Friday.
Photo:
RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Andrews said he was within 1.5 metres of Samsudeen, who subsequently came toward him with the knife.
"He swung his knife aggressively towards me and with much more energy than when he had been stabbing and cutting [survivor] on the ground.
"He went from zero to a hundred quickly and moved towards me to attack me," Andrews recalled.
Andrews said he ran away and grabbed a metal pole for protection.
He said he held the pole toward Samsudeen as the attacker continued to swing the knife toward him.
Andrews said another shopper yelled at Samsudeen, eventually distracting him away.
Andrews was emotional as he spoke of seeing an injured survivor on the ground.
He said he'd asked another shopper to hold the hand of the survivor to keep her conscious, as he went to apply pressure to the wounds of another survivor.
Off-duty paramedic Ross Tomlinson was another civilian who attempted to distract Samsudeen and stop him from attacking others.
Tomlinson said he witnessed Samsudeen stabbing a person and told him to drop his weapon.
He told the inquest he was then approached by Samsudeen.
"I told Mr Samsudeen several times to drop the knife. He didn't respond and kept coming towards me.
"He didn't run but was pacing towards me. His breathing was heavy with a deranged look on his face.
"It was neither happy nor angry, but deranged or manic."
Ross Tomlinson during his evidence into the inquest of Ahamed Samsudeen.
Photo:
RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Tomlinson said Samsudeen was slashing his knife in the air and was saying with a raised voice, "Allahu Akbar".
He said several other civilians were also trying to distract Samsudeen and asked him to put down the knife, before the two plain-clothed police officers arrived.
Tomlinson said both officers had ordered Samsudeen to put down his knife before they shot him.
"The commands from them were really, really clear. People from behind scattered when they were told to get out of the way.
"There is in no world where he didn't hear that command very clearly, repeated and was given every opportunity to drop that weapon. He didn't do so.
"As a matter of fact, they (the police) acted in my best interests to save my life. [It's] worth stating that those commands were very, very clear and he was afforded every opportunity to stop this violence," he said.
Under questioning by a lawyer Anna Adams assisting the Coroner, Tomlinson said the two officers were the first to attend to Samsudeen after they shot him.
He said he also unpacked some nappies from the shelves for helping with Samsudeen's wounds - however based on more than 10 years of experience as a paramedic, he felt Samsudeen couldn't have been saved.
Tomlinson said he observed signs of "agonal breathing" from Samsudeen, which he said happens with people who are having a cardiac arrest or some form of internal haemorrhaging.
He said Samsudeen's breathing quickly stopped and he believed that there was not much one could do to save him, and even life support may not have worked.
Earlier when Coroner Marcus Elliott opened the inquest, he said it would not be revisiting the conclusion of the Independent Police Conduct Authority finding that two officers were legally justified in shooting Samsudeen, and that the surveillance officer who decided not to follow Samsudeen into the supermarket initially, had acted reasonably.
However, he said that does not mean there was nothing to learn from the attack, and the inquest would discuss recommendations.
More to come...
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
5 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Supreme Court to hear appeal against sentence of man who committed rape at age 15
By Ric Stevens, Open Justice reporter of The young man's lawyers say he should have been dealt with in the Youth Court, where a prison sentence would have been unlikely. Photo: RNZ Insight This article deals with sexual offending against three young women and may be distressing for some readers. A 15-year-old who raped a teen before going on to sexually assault two women a few years later was found guilty and sent to prison for just over three years. Now lawyers are arguing before the Supreme Court about whether he should have been sentenced as a youth, based on his age when he first offended, or as a grown man when he was convicted at the age of 21. His lawyers say he was a child when he offended and should have been dealt with as such by the courts. But lawyers for the Crown say he turned out to be a repeat sexual offender with no remorse, who assaulted two more young women when he was 18. The outcome of the case could determine if he will be sent back to prison - he is currently out on bail - or if he receives a community-based sentence and rehabilitation. The young man's name, personal details, and the identities of his victims are all suppressed. The rape victim was older than him. One of the other two women he went on to offend against several years later was older, the other younger. His first victim had consumed alcohol and drugs before the young man, at that time just 15 years old, gave her sleeping pills. She was unable to stay alert, and he raped her. The offending against the other two women happened when he was 18. The women each awoke to find him sexually assaulting them. The offences came to light later on and the young man, by then an adult, was charged in respect of all three women at the same time - one charge of rape and two of unlawful sexual connection. He admitted the lesser sexual connection charges on the morning his trial was due to begin and was found guilty of the rape by a jury two days later. He was 21 years old when convicted, and was sentenced in a district court to three years and four months in prison after the judge took the rape as the most serious and "lead" offence. He is now appealing against that sentence. His lawyers, Letizea Ord and Emily Blincoe, say that if he had been charged with rape close to the time he committed it, he would probably have been dealt with in the youth justice system, for offenders aged 17 and under. The emphasis in the Youth Court is on rehabilitation. In their submissions his lawyers say it was "highly unlikely" that he would have been sent to prison had he been dealt with there. They say that the two charges of unlawful sexual connection, which would have been dealt with in an adult court, would not have attracted a sentence of imprisonment on their own. They also say that the community would be safer if he were dealt with outside the prison system, with specialist treatment, because no targeted youth sexual offender programmes are available behind bars. Ord and Blincoe argue that New Zealand is an "outlier" in how it deals with offences committed by minors but uncovered later. In England and Wales, an offender's age at conviction is specified in law, but sentencing guidelines are based on the outcome that was likely to have been applied at the date of the offence, and prison is a "last resort". The Australian states take a similar approach, and Canada has a law which says that youth justice legislation applies to all offending committed under the age of 18, regardless of when charges are laid. However, the Crown Law Office said New Zealand law did not support sentencing outcomes in such cases that disregarded the legislation and methodology of the adult courts in favour of the processes governing the "intensely specialised" Youth Court. "The appeal also requires the [Supreme] Court to engage with an artificial factual scenario: to treat [the appellant] as though he was still 15 years old for the purpose of sentencing," the Crown submissions to the court said. "That ignores the reality of the case before the court: a 22-year-old repeat sexual violation offender who denied any wrongdoing and remained unremorseful at sentencing. One who, up until the time this court granted him bail, had taken no steps towards rehabilitation." The young man has so far spent 13 months in custody. He has engaged in rehabilitation since being bailed. The Supreme Court will begin hearing his case on Tuesday. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
5 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Person critically hurt in Masterton crash
Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER A person has been critically injured and another hurt in a serious crash in Masternon. Police said the intersection of Kitchener Street and Puriri Crescent in the suburb of Lansdowne is blocked. They were called to the crash about 6.30am on Monday. A diversion was in place and drivers were warned to expect delays. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
35 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Tenth anniversary of Kaeo boil water notice
health rural 15 minutes ago This month Kaeo is marking a ten-year anniversary. But it's not a milestone anyone's celebrating, because it's the 10th anniversary of the Far North town's boil-water notice. Reporter Peter de Graaf has more.
