Abbas Munshi has been charged with lying to police and attempted kidnapping. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
Abbas Munshi has been charged with lying to police and attempted kidnapping. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
A Lower Hutt man has been charged with lying to police about a stabbing incident.
He also faces charges of breaching a protection order and attempted kidnapping of a person.
The man has entered not guilty pleas and remains in custody until his next court appearance.
The case of a Lower Hutt man stabbed in the street has taken a dramatic twist, with police now arresting and charging him with lying to officers about the incident.
The man has also been charged over a separate alleged kidnapping.
Abbas Munshi did suffer stab wounds to his thigh during an incident on June 24, but he now faces multiple charges, including attempting to pervert the course of justice “by fabricating circumstances around an alleged aggravated robbery”. The charge relates to the stabbing incident.
Munshi, 47, earlier told the Herald he believed a person from his past was behind the attack, and was conspiring to kill him, and said he wanted police to do more to protect him by arresting the person.
Charges laid on Friday last week show he is accused of breaching a protection order against this person by psychologically abusing them twice, then attempting to kidnap them sometime between October and December last year.
Abbas Munshi earlier gave an interview to the Herald about the alleged incident in Lower Hutt. Photo / Melissa Nightingale
He also faces a charge of making a false statement to police in a way that would amount to perjury if made on oath in a judicial proceeding.
The Herald earlier published an interview with Munshi in which he spoke of a series of escalating incidents he claimed were all connected to the person from his past.
In the interview, which the Herald has removed in light of the recent developments, Munshi said that from October to December last year he and his family started receiving multiple visits from a woman he claimed had been threatening to kill him.
He said police contacted him months later on June 15 to inform him they were aware of text messages sent by an anonymous person to a former colleague, containing threats to Munshi. They contacted him again on June 24 to let him know they did not believe he was in danger. Later that day, the stabbing occurred.
Munshi claimed he was approached by a masked man who mentioned the person from his past.
“The moment he said that, my God ... I was scared,” he said. “I just told this guy, I said, ‘Look, I don’t know what you’ve come for but you know what, I have some money. I’m happy to offer you that money, please spare my life.’
“Before I could complete, he started beating me up. He punched me, I think, everywhere. He kicked me, he punched me, and he stabbed me as well.”
Munshi said he crawled to a nearby house and the occupants called 111. Police officers arrived to find him bloodied on the home’s doorstep, and took him to hospital.
Hospital discharge notes viewed by the Herald show he was admitted with blunt trauma to the face and two stab wounds in his thigh.
Abbas Munshi claimed to have received this anonymous note in his letterbox.
One of the entries in his paperwork noted a nurse was unable to comprehend what Munshi was saying because he was shivering so violently, and was shouting in pain when his leg was moved.
He was discharged from hospital the next morning.
He said he later received a note in his letterbox which he claimed revealed the name of the stabber and referred to the person from his past.
Munshi appeared in the Hutt Valley District Court this week and applied for bail, but a justice of the peace declined this.
He has now entered not-guilty pleas to the charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice, breaching a protection order, making a false police statement and attempted kidnapping.
He reappeared in court on Thursday afternoon by audio-visual link to appeal the JP’s decision, but Judge Mike Mika also declined Munshi’s second bid for bail.
Munshi stood with his hand over his heart while the judge spoke.
He has been remanded in custody until his next appearance in December.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
