Christopher Luxon visits Kiwi troops in the UK, NZ's economic recovery expected to be gradual and uneven and fears of more exclusion to gender minorities.
Police are seeking information about a jacket and a silver Mazda 6 linked to the incidents.
More than a month after Abdul Nabizadah was killed it can now be revealed he may have been the victim of a robbery gone wrong.
Five weeks on from his father’s death, John Nabizadah struggles to sleep. He wakes up to four times a night, unable to get two burning thoughts out of his mind.
The first is why he lost his father, Abdul Nabizadah, and what happened to the 63-year-old before he was found critically injured in Camperdown Rd, Miramar at 2.20am on March 17.
The second is his guilt that he wasn’t there to help him.
Abdulhassan Nabizadah was found critically injured on the corner of a Miramar street minutes after police were called to a home invasion just blocks away. Photo / RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
“He was 63 ... he shouldn’t be working at 12 o’clock at night ... I should have helped him out. I should’ve been there more often for him,” John Nabizadah said.
The police investigation into Abdul Nabizadah’s death is ongoing.
Police earlier said they had established a link between the homicide and an aggravated burglary that occurred at a nearby Darlington Rd address at about 2am, when a man was found by homeowners inside their house.
Police believe Abdul Nabizadah was the victim of a robbery.
RNZ can now reveal he is believed to have been set up by someone he had been messaging regarding a transaction. It’s understood a robbery gone wrong is among the possible reasons police believe he was assaulted.
John Nabizadah told RNZ he initially believed his father, who finished his shift at Taylor Preston’s meat processing about midnight, may have picked someone up who was asking for a ride.
John Nabizadah holds a photo of his father, who police believe may have been the victim of a robbery gone wrong. Photo / RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Then, about two weeks ago, police told the family they knew why he was in the area.
Police had established there had been contact between the victim and someone else who he had arranged to meet there. John Nabizadah was unable to say what it was his father was getting.
“I know he was there for some kind of reason, like, money wise, or whatever,” he said.
“And he got, he got burgled. His pocket got emptied, which we didn’t know, you know, he got, you know, money taken off,” he said.
John Nabizadah said he’d asked police if his father knew the person he had been messaging.
“They said, ‘We don’t know, but more likely not ... it’s the first time they meet or something.”
John Nabizadah can vividly recall arriving at a construction site about 7am on March 17 to begin work. When he arrived, his brother-in-law told him that his father was missing.
His mother woke about two hours earlier to prepare food ahead of the day’s fasting during Ramadan, but her husband was nowhere to be found.
The family’s search grew steadily more urgent and they called friends and looked for his car in the streets near his work, wondering if he had slept in his car or had a crash.
They had told police he was missing, and then got a call from officers that he had been admitted to Wellington Hospital.
John Nabizadah was the first person to see him in ICU with cuts and bruises on his head. At first he thought he may have been in a car crash, and asked staff if the other party was okay.
It had been discarded on the walkway leading from Camperdown Rd to Nevay Rd. Police want to speak to the owner of this jacket to determine if it is connected in any way to the incidents of that night.
The investigation team have previously sought information about a silver Mazda 6 vehicle seen on several occasions in the Miramar area on the night of the incidents.
Following assistance from members of the public, the investigation team identified this vehicle and believe it is connected to the two incidents.
Police wanted to speak to the driver and occupants of this car on the night of the incidents and encouraged them to make contact with them.
Police: Fresh appeal so they can provide “answers and justice for the Nabizadah family”
In a release issued early Wednesday night, police said a team of detectives continued to investigate the homicide.
Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard said police had previously said they believed there was a link between the death and the aggravated burglary of a nearby Darlington Rd house at about 2am.
“Police can now confirm that a phone was located in the Darlington Rd scene after it was dropped by the alleged offender when confronted by the home owner,” Pritchard said.
“A user of this phone had earlier been in contact with Mr Nabizadah and arranged to meet with him in Camperdown Road at about 12.30am.
“It is believed that Mr Nabizadah was assaulted and robbed at this meeting and his black lanyard with five keys attached were stolen by the offender. These have not been located and it is possible the offender discarded them in the wider Camperdown Rd area, perhaps in a garden, walkway or roadway, soon after the robbery.”
Police have appealed for anyone that has knowledge of the lanyard and keys, or has seen them, to make contact.
“The investigation has identified an address close to the Camperdown Rd scene that several persons of interest to the investigation were visiting at the time of the two incidents,” the investigation boss said.
“The people that frequent this address, including the persons of interest, and other visitors, have information critical to the investigation and we urge them to speak with us and tell us what they know so that we can provide answers and justice for the Nabizadah family.”
