Waiata before the candle lighting at the end of the vigil for slain dairy worker. Video / George Block / Ella Wilks
The man accused of murdering a Sandringham dairy worker was deported from Australia earlier this year, the Herald on Sunday understands.
After he was deported, he wound up in emergency housing in South Auckland.
The grounds for his deportation from Australia cannot be reported for legal reasons.
The man, 34, is accused of killing dairy worker Janak Patel on Wednesday night at the Rose Cottage Superette in Fowlds Ave, Sandringham. The newly married man was working in the shop while its owners were out of the country. He suffered stab wounds and died shortly after calling for emergency help.
A funeral for Patel is scheduled for tonight in Wiri.
A manager of the boarding house, which the Herald on Sunday has chosen not to identify, said the man came with a good reference and had only stayed for a few days before leaving abruptly on Monday.
Last night, loved ones of Patel, customers of the superette and other mourners gathered to pay their respects to the slain dairy worker.
The vigil was organised by the Migrant Workers Association, whose president Anu Kaloti said on Friday that the group offered “the deepest condolences to Janak’s wife and his family”.
Mourners light candles in memory of slain dairy worker Janak Patel last night. Photo / George Block
Those gathered packed the footpath and observed a minute of silence after a short, sombre speech from Kaloti.
”It’s important to unite as a community to be in solidarity with Janak’s family,” Kaloti told the crowd.
Kaloti said the country needed to look at the material conditions that had led to an environment where crime was thriving.
”This is not Aotearoa,” she said.
Wayne Orbell was among those who turned out to pay their respects to Patel.
He grew up in the 1980s and 90s in the now demolished row of state houses on Haverstock Rd near the shop, known as “the pink dairy”.
Former Sandringham resident Wayne Orbell was among those to pay their respects to Janak Patel. Photo / George Block
Orbell fondly remembered spending hours playing Space Invaders then running home for dinner when the street lights came on.
He was shocked to hear of Patel’s death this week and said he came to the vigil to pay his respects.
”It’s my childhood right here. It’s the pink dairy.”
A number of politicians were also there including Labour MP Helen White, who spoke, former Labour MP turned independent Gaurav Sharma and Green MP Ricardo Menendez who cautioned against turning the death into a political football.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited members of the Sandringham community yesterday after she came under fire from Act Party leader David Seymour following the stabbing - he said she had displayed a “complete lack of judgment” by opting to visit the Chatham Islands and not her grief-stricken electorate.
The PM told media after her Sandringham visit yesterday she had spoken with Patel’s family and Cabinet would be meeting tomorrow to discuss what more could be done to combat crime.
She said it was about “prosecuting and holding to account those who are responsible”.
“I think the most important thing is that we are able to talk directly with one another.”
A man, 34, was arrested on Friday night in New Lynn, West Auckland, after a major manhunt and charged with murder and aggravated robbery with a knife.
In a brief appearance yesterday morning in the Auckland District Court before JP Les Smith, he was granted interim name suppression and was remanded in custody without plea. Wearing a boiler suit, he stood calmly in the dock with his hands behind his back.
A second man, aged 42, was charged with robbery of the same dairy on the same day.
Charging documents show the 34-year-old man’s most recent address was a boarding house complex in South Auckland.
A note written by a mourner to slain dairy worker Janak Patel. New Zealand Herald. Photo / George Block
The other man is charged with the robbery of a cash register, butane lighters and vapes from the dairy. He also did not enter a plea and was remanded in custody.
Kaloti said “no one should get hurt on the job”.
“Unfortunately, we have a long way to go before the most vulnerable workers in our society can feel safe at work.
