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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
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
04-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Surivors of Lynn Mall terrorist attack give evidence at inquest
Survivors of the Lynn Mall terrorist attack in Auckland have given evidence today as they seek closure from a coronial inquest. Following legal arguments yesterday, the hearing began in earnest today with first hand accounts from survivors and police, as well as detailed footage of the attack itself. Felix Walton reports. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
