Sandringham dairy stabbing: Act leader David Seymour says PM Jacinda Ardern must show Government cares about dairy owners after stabbing

Act Party leader David Seymour will speak with Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan following his criticism of the Prime Minister’s absence from the scene of a fatal dairy stabbing in her electorate. Photo / NZME

Act Party leader David Seymour says the Prime Minister should go to the scene of the fatal dairy stabbing in her electorate to make the Government’s response “real”.

In response to Ardern’s desire to not get in the way of police investigations, Seymour told Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan that the PM could go to the scene without “tampering with evidence”.

“I can tell you, there’s a whole community out there, people who work in retail and much of the Indian community, who are saying ‘they [the Government] don’t really care about us.”

Seymour said there could be “more lawlessness” as people take justice into their own hands.

“The Prime Minister would have done a lot better going and making the point that not everything the Government has done has been right, but this will be a turning point when it comes to retail crime.

“You can visit a site, talk to people, understand how they’re feeling without tampering with evidence,” Seymour said.

Seymour said there needed to be a strengthening of security at shops that had been frequent targets of crime.

“Since they’ve started using better technology, Michael Hill Jewellers stopped getting hit, in part that’s why other jewellery stores have been targets in the past few weeks.”

Seymour said the rollout of the Crime Prevention Fund had been “woefully and pitifully slow”, and said authorities had said retailers weren’t eligible for support for security measures unless they had been previously targetted.

“Unfortunately, in this case, that’s not going to help [the victim] so [the Government] needs to change that.”

Seymour said there needed to be more places to take “bad kids”.

“I’ve talked to Youth Aid police officers and they say if they had the number of secure beds that Oranga Tamariki had five years ago and the people to staff them, they could take 100 kids off the streets and put them there. That would stop most of the violence in Auckland and Waikato. They can’t do that because they’ve actually run down Oranga Tamariki’s ability to put kids somewhere.”

Seymour said officers he had spoken to had to take young offenders back to the “same households that let them offend in the first place, and the kid’s out reoffending before [cops] do the paperwork”.

The Act leader earlier said Ardern’s choice to not be in her Mt Albert electorate following the robbery and fatal stabbing on Wednesday showed a “complete lack of judgment”.

Janak Patel, 34, was fatally stabbed when he confronted a robber outside the Sandringham store he was working in on Wednesday night.

The dairy worker, who friends described as polite and friendly, had relocated to Auckland from Hamilton only last week to look after the Rose Cottage Superette while the owners were overseas.

Police say he was stabbed several times 100m from the store after he confronted a thief who had stolen the cash register about 8pm on Wednesday.

Patel, who was newly married, managed to make it back to the dairy, where emergency services were called, but died from his injuries.

“Instead of dropping everything to be in her electorate today and making the response to retail crime a priority, [Ardern] is on a plane to the Chathams. A trip she could have easily postponed,” Seymour said.

“Jacinda Ardern should be in Mt Albert today and nothing should have got in the way of that.”

Ardern defended her decision to not be with grieving members of the Sandringham community after the fatal stabbing.

Flowers outside the Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham where a worker was fatally stabbed on Wednesday evening. Photo / Dean Purcell

She rejected any suggestion her not being in Sandringham represented a Government not doing enough to address crime, noting there was a time and place when the man’s family might want to engage politicians.

Speaking to media from the Chathams, where the Prime Minister was visiting for the first time, Ardern said she has directly contacted some community leaders concerning the man’s death but said she was wary of disturbing a grieving family.

“It is my local community so I will be looking to be present there as soon as I’m able to, but I’m also very aware there’s a family grieving and there is an active police investigation into a homicide and I do need to delicately balance being in the right place in the right time.”

Dairy owners plan nationwide protest

A post-mortem examination is being carried out today on the body of the victim as dairy owners plan a nationwide protest.

Detective Inspector Scott Beard, of Auckland City CIB, who is heading the inquiry, has repeated his call for anyone who witnessed the altercation that occurred, or believed they saw the offender on foot, before or after the incident, to come forward and talk to police.

“We also continue to appeal to those in the community who know who the offender is, to do the right thing and contact us,” Beard said in a statement.

Meanwhile, dairy owners have announced they will hold a nationwide protest after the death of Janak Patel.

Dairy and Business Association spokesman Sunny Kaushal outside the Sandringham dairy that was robbed on Wednesday evening. Photo / Dean Purcell

They said more needed to be done to protect workers.

Dairy and Business Association chairman Sunny Kaushal said the protest would be held once the funeral for Patel has been completed.

He said the small businesses want action, rather than empathy, from the Government.

However, the initial priority will be to assist Patel’s family with funeral arrangements.

Cordons in place outside the Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham. Photo / Dean Purcell

Police also wanted to acknowledge residents living within the cordon and the surrounding areas and thank them for their cooperation, Beard said.

He also thanked those who had already provided information.

Cordons remain in place and are expected to be lifted later today or tomorrow.

Fund opens to help family

Auckland businesses are raising money to support the family of the dairy worker who was “senselessly killed” this week.

The Givealittle page was created by the Dairy & Business Owners Group to provide financial support for the victim’s elderly parents after he was fatally stabbed in Sandringham on Wednesday evening.

“This could be any small family-run business,” the group wrote. “But it has left a law-abiding shopworker that had so much promise dead.

“Above all, it has cost a family a cherished loved one.”

The Rose Cottage Superette was lined with flower bouquets this morning as members of the community paid their respects. A candlelight vigil last night attracted a crowd of 200, with another scheduled for Saturday evening.

The Dairy & Business Owners Group said it planned to liaise with the victim’s family to ensure they were supported.