Latest news with #AhamedSamsudeen
RNZ News
13-06-2025
- RNZ News
Coronial inquest into LynnMall attack completes first phase
Ahamed Samsudeen coming out of the New Lynn train station, on the day of the attack on 3 September, 2021. Photo: Supplied The first phase of the coronial inquest into the LynnMall attack four years ago has concluded in Auckland on Friday. Ahamed Samsudeen was shot and killed by police, after stabbing four women and one man with a kitchen knife at a Countdown supermarket in Auckland's New Lynn. Two others were injured trying to stop him. Phase one of the inquiry began last week, with two more phases expected to sit later this year. Samsudeen was granted refugee status in 2013, identified by the SIS as a terrorist threat in early 2017 and under surveillance at the time of the attack. Coroner Marcus Elliott set out the path the inquest would take last year, ruling it would cover Samsudeen's path to extremism, his management in the community and what happened on the day he died. In the first phase covering the day of the attack, the coroner heard from survivors, who talked about their experiences and the impact the attack had on them in the years since. CCTV footage was examined frame by frame, with police staff providing evidence on tracking Samsudeen's movements and the actions taken by officers leading up to his shooting. Giving closing statements, police counsel Alysha McClintock said the task of the coroner was a delicate one. "In my submission, great, great care is needed with the precision of hindsight that we now have and with the precision of these stills we have been carefully working our way through," she said. "We have to take great care in trying to analyse in the cold light of day, in this courtroom, that material and use it as a possible ability to essentially rewrite what should have happened. In my submission, that is very dangerous indeed." Earlier in the day, the inquest heard officers had no option but to use lethal force , after failing to de-escalate the situation. McClintock said questions around using a taser to subdue Samsudeen were obvious, but ultimately, that wouldn't have changed what happened. "The evidence that has been given in this inquiry, in my submission, has made it clear that the carrying of a taser would have made no difference in this situation, given the risk presented by what Mr Samsudeen was doing at the critical time," McClintock said. Representing officers involved in the attack, lawyer Todd Simmonds said their decision not to follow Ahamed Samsudeen into the supermarket that day was sound. "It was, knowing what they knew at the time, an appropriate decision to make," he said. Simmonds echoed McClintock's warning about hindsight. He said surveillance officers were not equipped to follow Samsudeen into the supermarket. "Even if they had followed Mr Samsudeen into the supermarket on the afternoon in question... they would not have been in a position to incapacitate Mr Samsudeen from his ongoing attack on members of the public," Simmonds said. Simmonds asked Coroner Marcus Elliott to consider acknowledging the actions of police on the day in his findings. Representing the interests of Ahamed Samsudeen's family, lawyer Fletcher Pilditch said the benefit of the coronial process was that the coroner wasn't bound to label something simply wrong or right. "The court's not bound by those polar positions" he said. "The court's in the position where it can simply, calmly, with the benefit of a great deal of information, reflect upon the facts and invite those that were involved... in this incident to simply reflect on those facts and to invite consideration going forward. "That can be done, as I say, without any criticism, without any second-guessing of the IPCA or the findings of justified use of force - it can simply be the presentation of facts." Pilditch said earlier intervention could have made a difference. "His window of opportunity to inflict harm was the very opportunity created by not being surveilled within that time," he said. "The hard reality is that, if there had been an earlier intervention, a) no-one or less people may have been harmed, and b) Mr Samsudeen may well have found himself alone in the supermarket, but for armed [Special Tactic Group] officers. Lead counsel assisting the coroner Anna Adams was the last to give a closing statement, recapping the facts of the case, the surveillance of Samsudeen, his radical terrorist ideas and interests, and his history. She said Samsudeen's death affected many people. "First of all, of course, Mr Samsudeen has loving, surviving family members, who live overseas and grieve his death. "There are the survivors, there are the officers, people most affected by this phase of the inquest, but there are also, of course, Mr Samsudeen's lawyer, the people at the mosque where he stayed - they have all suffered trauma as a result of these events." Coroner Marcus Elliott concluded the phase, thanking those who took part. He acknowledged the profound personal consequences and harm suffered by so many due to the events leading up to and during the attack, before finishing with a karakia. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
13-06-2025
- RNZ News
LynnMall attack inquest: Police had no option but to shoot Ahamed Samsudeen
Samsudeen was shot and killed by police at a Countdown supermarket in Auckland's New Lynn. Photo: 2021 Getty Images / NZ Herald / Greg Bowker The coronial inquest into LynnMall terrorist Ahamed Samsudeen has heard officers had no option but to shoot him during his attack at an Auckland supermarket four years ago. Samsudeen was shot and killed by police after stabbing four women and one man with a kitchen knife at a Countdown supermarket in Auckland's New Lynn. Two others were injured trying to stop him. Inspector Derek Sarney told the inquest Samsudeen did not cooperate with officers trying to de-escalate the situation. "The officers were unable to de-escalated the threat any further, therefore, they had to remain with lethal force being the option presented to Mr Samsudeen," he said. Offenders must show they are listening to commands so officers feel the threat reducing, something Sarney said Samsudeen did not do. "Therefore, any other option, other than the firearm, was not available to them without increasing significant risk to themselves or members of the public." Sarney said police believed Samsudeen posed a risk of death or grievous bodily harm to the public as well as the officers present during the attack. "Mr Samsudeen's actions were unpredictable, uncooperative, threatening by carriage and use of a large bladed weapon, and were goal driven to resist arrest by force," he said. Closing statements for phase one of the inquest are expected this afternoon. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
10-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
LynnMall attack inquest: Police set to give evidence
Photo: Supplied Warning: This story contains graphic details that may upset some readers. The coronial inquest into the death of LynnMall attacker Ahamed Samsudeen continues on Wednesday, after a forensic pathologist explained why he had zero chance of surviving as many as a dozen gunshot wounds . Samsudeen stabbed four women and one man with a kitchen knife at a Countdown supermarket in Auckland's New Lynn in 2021, before being shot and killed by police. Two others were injured trying to stop him from harming others. Forensic pathologist Dr Kilak Kesha conducted the post-mortem on Samsudeen after his death. He told the inquest the attacker died quickly from the gunshot wounds, describing four of them as rapidly fatal because they pierced vital organs. Kesha described a bullet that passed through the left side of Samsudeen's chest, while being questioned by police counsel Alysha McClintock. "That's one of the wounds that you considered may have been among those the most rapidly fatal?" McClintock asked. 'Yes, because it passed through the spleen, and the intestines," Kesha said. Kesha described some of the other gunshot wounds and the impact these had on Samsudeen's body. "It passed through the heart, the lungs, causing significant bleeding. This one passed through the aorta, the liver, the stomach, and small bowel, causing blood to accumulate in the abdomen." Ross Tomlinson. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi Earlier in the inquest, survivor Ross Tomlinson described how he used nappies from the supermarket shelves to help with Samsudeen's wounds after he was shot . A former paramedic with a decade's experience, he said he believed Samsudeen could not have been saved. McClintock asked Kesha what impact as many as a dozen gunshot wounds would have. "Is there anything else that you would add about the overall impact on the human body of receiving a total of potentially up to 12 gunshot wounds?" she said. "After the autopsy, looking at all the injuries, survivability is zero," Kesha replied. Coroner Marcus Elliott asked about Samsudeen's movements in the moments after he was shot. "Death is not instantaneous - it takes time to bleed, your heart's got to pump and that blood's got to be lost through the broken vessels," Kesha said. "People can walk, they can stumble, they can take a few steps, it depends how rapidly the blood is lost." "So if he had formed the intention at that point to charge, to use that word, it would have been possible for him to do so?" Elliott asked, with Kesha responding that was correct. The inquest continues on Wednesday with evidence from police officers. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
10-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Inquest into LynnMall attacker's death hears he had 'zero' chance of survival after being shot by police
Photo: 2021 Getty Images / NZ Herald / Greg Bowker A forensic pathologist says some of the gunshots fired at LynnMall attacker Ahamed Samsudeen went through vital organs, leaving him no chance of survival. The coronial inquest into Samsudeen's death has resumed in Auckland after a break on Monday. Samsudeen attacked four women and one man with a knife at a Countdown supermarket in Auckland's New Lynn in 2021 , before being shot and killed by police. Forensic pathologist Dr Kilak Kesha conducted the post-mortem on Samsudeen. He found drugs in his system, but also a small amount of alcohol, likely a by-product of decomposition. Antidepressants were also detected, he said. Kesha told the inquest on Tuesday that Samsudeen died quickly from the gunshot wounds. He said four of the wounds would have been rapidly fatal. "It means that the gunshot wounds hit vital organs, and without immediate medical attention survivability is zero." Bullets pierced Samsudeen's heart, spleen, intestine and lungs, he said. "The mechanism of death is exsanguination or blood los - all of [the bullets] contributed to blood loss, so all of them contributed to death." Police counsel Alysha McClintock asked Kesha about the overall impact to a person's body after being hit by as many bullets as Samsudeen was. "After the autopsy, looking at all the injuries, the survivability is zero," Kesha said. The coronial inquest continues. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
06-06-2025
- RNZ News
Police knew LynnMall terrorist Ahamed Samsudeen was likely to commit an attack before immigration hearing, inquest hears
Ahamed Samsudeen. 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.
