Police knew LynnMall terrorist Ahamed Samsudeen was likely to commit an attack before immigration hearing, inquest hears
Photo:
New Zealand Herald / Greg Bowker
Police knew about the risk of Ahamed Samsudeen committing an attack before an immigration tribunal appeal hearing to determine his deportation, an inquest has heard.
The inquest into the death of Samsudeen heard evidence the police had known in the month before the LynnMall terror attack that he was likely to commit an attack before an immigration tribunal appeal hearing that was scheduled to take place on 13 September 2021.
A lawyer assisting the Coroner, Erin McGill, in her examining of a senior police officer from the National Security Group, referenced an application for surveillance warrant made by the police on 17 August 2021, which raised concerns about the risk of an attack before the appeal hearing.
Samsudeen was at the time being stripped of his refugee status, but his deportation was pending the outcome of his appeal.
McGill asked the senior police officer whether the team surveilling Samsudeen would be aware of this information relating to the risk of an attack, to which the officer said "I would've thought so".
McGill acknowledged that around the end of August, the 13 September hearing date was being rescheduled to a later date due to delays during the Covid-19 lockdown and the fact that Samsudeen had changed his lawyer. It was unclear when the rescheduled date would be.
According to a timeline from a
coordinated review of the management of Samsudeen
, released by joint government agencies in late 2022, Samsudeen first entered New Zealand from Sri Lanka on a student visa in 2011 and subsequently was granted refugee status.
He was known to police for posting objectionable material depicting graphic violence as early as 2016.
In 2017, a former flatmate of Samsudeen reported to police that Samsudeen told him he wanted to travel to Syria to fight for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and that he'd commit a knife attack if he was prevented from doing that.
Samsudeen was arrested in May 2017 at an airport after attempting to fly overseas, and was charged with possession of objectionable material, and would spend nearly four years in remand in custody.
The senior police officer from the National Security Group was asked whether the terror attack could've been stopped sooner if a surveillance officer had followed Samsudeen into the mall on 3 September.
Samsudeen had just been released from prison seven weeks prior to the attack.
He was serving a 12-month community sentence and was under 24-7 surveillance by covert police officers due to the high risk he posed to national security.
The inquest heard that a surveillance officer - referred to as Officer D - had followed Samsudeen on the day, but decided not to follow him into the mall.
Under questioning by McGill around why Officer D made that call, the senior officer said Officer D had been surveilling Samsudeen for seven weeks and noticed nothing unusual in his behaviour that day.
He also conceded that Officer D likely didn't know that the Countdown (now Woolworths) supermarket sold knives.
When asked by McGill whether there would've been a different approach to surveillance on the day, if the surveillance team knew the supermarket sold knives, the senior police officer said he couldn't directly answer that.
McGill also noted that Officer D's evidence stated that Samsudeen was making positive plans for the future around the time of the attack, including making enquiries about employment and accommodation options.
After a long line of questions, McGill asked the senior officer if he thought the attack could've been stopped sooner if Officer D had followed Samsudeen into the mall.
The senior officer said "it had the potential to raise the alarm slightly earlier", but added it's uncertain whether it would've stopped the attack earlier.
He said due to the covert nature of surveillance, the officer was unlikely to have been in the same aisle as Samsudeen to see what he was doing.
He conceded that if a surveillance member had seen Samsudeen taking the knife off the shelves, that would've triggered the team to call the Special Tactics Group.
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.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero
,
a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
35 minutes ago
- RNZ News
Police using thermal binoculars and drones to find illegal hunters
Photo: Hawke's Bay police say they are using thermal binoculars and drones to track down illegal hunters. At least 16 hunters - encroaching onto private land - have been caught in the region in the past six months. Sergeant Ray Wylie said hunting on private property without permission increased the likelihood of an accidental injury or death. "Lawful hunting parties are often not expecting to come across other hunters when they are operating on private property. When you hunt illegally you are putting your party and other legal hunters at risk. "Not only is it dangerous, but it is also detrimental to businesses and individuals in the community who lose money," Wylie said. Illegal hunters were risking prosecution and having firearms licences revoked and their firearms destroyed. Wylie appealed to members of the public to report any suspicious activity, vehicles or people to help the police focus their inquiries in local areas.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Truck crash injures two in North Canterbury
Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER Two people are injured after a truck crash on State Highway 1 in North Canterbury. Emergency services were called to the single vehicle crash on Domett Road near Cheviot about 8.10am. Police said one person was seriously injured and another had moderate injuries. SH1 had closed after the crash but since reopened.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Gloriavale leader Howard Temple 'did not grope', lawyer says
Gloriavale leader Howard Temple. Photo: The Press/Kai Schwoerer The Greymouth District Court will hear more evidence from women accusing Gloriavale leader Howard Temple of sexual offending today, as the judge alone trial continues. Temple is facing 24 charges of indecent assault and doing an indecent act to nine women who ranged in age from nine to 20 years old when the offending took place, between 1997 and 2022. The crown said the crimes occurred in the kitchen, dining hall and a men's bathroom at the commune, which is located about 60 kilometres from Greymouth, at Lake Haupiri. The crown alleges the defendant would prey on the young women, stroking their legs, grabbing them around the waist or by their dresses as they served food, or while working in the kitchen, grabbing them from behind, kissing them on the neck or groping them. Temple, 85, has pleaded not guilty. He acknowledges kissing and hugging some of the complainants, but denies any of it was indecent. His lawyer, Michael Vesty, said Temple - and other leaders - would merely acknowledge the young women's work with an "affectionate hug". He describe the gestures as demonstrations of "gratitude and support that were acceptable conduct in the day to day life of the community", and said Temple "did not grope, did not grab, did not linger". On Monday, the court heard from one of the nine complainants. The woman, who has name suppression, told the court of working in the kitchen and dining hall from the time she was a primary school aged child. A videotaped police interview from 2015 was played to the court before the woman took the stand and told of being touched, grabbed, groped and harassed by Temple and other men at Gloriavale. She talked of strategies women and girls used to try to avoid the worst of the harassment, or avoid being vulnerable to assault. The complainant, who was born at Gloriavale and left when she was in her late 20s, described a culture of fear and victim blaming. During her time there, "if any issues happened, say between a married man and a single woman, or two single people even, the women were always at fault". "The man's wife was at fault because she obviously wasn't doing the right thing to keep her husbands eyes only on her, and the girl who had been abused was at fault because she had also tempting him." Anything from showing too much hair under their headscarf to wearing ankle socks to tying their belts incorrectly was considered rebellious or "worldly", and an attempt to attract men's attention. Telling anyone could have meant being shamed, isolated, or prevented from marrying, and there was no one to confide in, because "it's everybody's job to dob everybody else in". During cross examination, Vesty indicated he will call a number of witnesses to attest the woman had a friendly and warm relationship with Temple, and would sometimes instigate hugs herself, which she denied. The defence spent some time dissecting letters Temple had sent the then-teenager while he was in India setting up another community , often addressing her as his favourite girlfriend. The woman said the letters were inappropriate in their language and tone, coming from the group's leader to a teenager. But Temple's lawyer's Michael Vesty said the letters show genuine pastoral concern. The crown intends to call some of the other complainants as well as two of the police officers involved in the case. The trial is set down for two weeks. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
