New Lynn terror attack: Why didn’t police follow Samsudeen into supermarket, lawyer asks hearing

A lawyer for victims of the Auckland supermarket terror attack has questioned why two fully armed police officers were sitting outside in the carpark when the assault began.

Islamic State supporter Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen stabbed five shoppers in a frenzied knife attack before being shot dead by two undercover police officers at the New Lynn Countdown on September 3, 2021.

Today in Auckland, Coroner Marcus Elliott opened a hearing to explore what should be addressed in a coronial inquiry.

Lawyer Anna Adams, who is tasked with assisting the coroner, made submissions on behalf of the 12 survivors, comprising six women and six men who were aged between 29 and 77 at the time of the attack.

They variously suffered life-threatening stab wounds, were shoppers who attempted to stop him, and/or witnessed the attack and fatal shooting of the Sri Lankan national, who first came to New Zealand on a student visa in 2011. He was granted refugee status two years later as he sought to escape political persecution as a Tamil Muslim in Sri Lanka.

Adams said the victims have “fractured memories” of a chaotic and terrifying five minutes where after taking a kitchen knife from a supermarket shelf Samsudeen, seeming “crazy” and saying “Allahu Akbar”, carried out his attack, which appeared particularly directed at women.

Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen was known to authorities as holding extremist ideologies. Photo / Greg Bowker

Adams said they support the coroner holding a public hearing to help answer “three key questions”.

The victims wanted to know why the special tactics group (STG) and undercover police officers tailing Samsudeen did not follow him into the supermarket and if he was being properly surveilled.

“Why were there two fully armed police officers sitting outside the supermarket in the carpark?” Adams asked, adding the survivors are especially concerned by a passage in the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report that reads:

• “In the weeks following Samsudeen’s release from prison, police received intelligence that Samsudeen wanted to commit an attack in a crowded place (like the Auckland CBD or a transport hub) with a vehicle and/or a knife, and had identified Friday as his preferred day for an attack. This information was passed on to the officers surveilling Samsudeen as part of their regular briefings and intelligence updates. Police briefed the officers that Samsudeen posed a high threat of a ‘low sophistication terrorist attack’ and that this could occur with little or no warning.”

The IPCA found police were justified in their response, including shooting at Samsudeen 12 times.

Adams said the survivors considered it “obvious” Samsudeen would target a supermarket or vaccination centre because those were the only crowded locations while Auckland was in level 4 Covid-19 lockdown at the time.

“The survivors also understand that Samsudeen was filmed on CCTV footage browsing knives for sale at the New Lynn Countdown in the month prior to the incident ... The survivors would like the coroner to consider whether, had the armed officers followed Samsudeen into the supermarket, they may have been able to prevent or reduce the harm that occurred.”

Counsel for government agencies, including police, Kim Laurenson said the issue had been canvased in earlier investigations and CCTV showing Samsudeen looking at knives was only identified after the attack.

• " ... while [police] had followed Samsudeen into some other shops and were particularly concerned about him trying to obtain a hunting knife, they understood that he could easily obtain a kitchen knife or other sharp item if he wanted to change his preferred instrument of attack. We accept that the decision not to follow Samsudeen into the supermarket was carefully considered, and consistent with decisions made regarding Samsudeen’s other visits to supermarkets and convenience stores. In the absence of any other indications that there was a heightened risk of an attack on that day, police’s actions were reasonable,” the IPCA report said.

Todd Simmonds, a lawyer acting for four police officers including STG, surveillance, and team leader on the day, said his clients have been “significantly impacted by the events on that day” and warned against re-litigating events which had been “fully explored”.

Emergency services rush a victim to an ambulance after the September 2021 attack. Photo / Alex Burton

The survivors also questioned if Samsudeen was being adequately supervised at the Auckland mosque he was staying at.

“Was the Glen Eden mosque sufficiently informed about the risk Samsudeen posed to the public, so that the mosque was able to recognise and communicate with the police or Corrections if the risk seemed to increase?” Adams said.

Thirdly, she told the hearing, the survivors “do not yet understand how Samsudeen was even in New Zealand” given his known support for terrorist ideologies and attempts to travel to Syria to join Isis.

“The survivors are however asking the inquiry to consider the earlier investigations and provide a finding as to why the incident was not prevented, as it could have been, by the earlier removal of Samsudeen from New Zealand from the time that his terrorist sympathies first came to the attention of the authorities in 2015.”

The Herald earlier revealed immigration officials had sought to revoke Samsudeen’s refugee status in 2018, however, he appealed and a final decision had yet to be made on whether he could be deported at the time of the attack.

Samsudeen in an image he posted to his social media accounts.

Adams said the victims did not want an inquiry to be politicised as a trial of New Zealand’s response to terrorist ideologies.

“And they do not wish to be retraumatised by the inquiry process itself,” she said.

“Most of the survivors do not wish to be called to give live testimony and be cross-examined about the incident, unless this is absolutely necessary,” Adams said, adding the survivors want the coroner to largely use the evidence already gathered, including the grainy and soundless CCTV footage of the attack.

Coroner Elliott said the attack had “profoundly affected” many people both physically and mentally.

He also acknowledged the loss and pain Samsudeen’s family have experienced and those who tried to help him and “were let down by his actions”.

Acting on behalf of Samsudeen’s family, lawyer Max Harris said an inquiry could address a failure to provide Samsudeen with mental health support while in custody and a failure to provide Samsudeen with religious services while behind bars.

“Samsudeen’s family submits that the scope of the inquiry should certainly extend to Samsudeen’s first period in custody and the events following his release from his first period on remand,” he said.

“Further, some evidence may need to be tested and presented: for example, on the nature of desistance and disengagement from violent extremist behaviour; the impact of segregation on prisoners; the use of tasers as opposed to other weapons.”

Samsudeen had been released from prison in July 2021 after being convicted of two charges of possessing objectionable material relating to Isis, and one charge of failing to assist a police officer exercising a search power. He also faced further charges which were dismissed and was on bail at the time of the attack for assaulting two Corrections officers while in custody.

Before Samsudeen’s attack, the Herald revealed how Crown prosecutors had attempted to charge him under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, but a High Court judge ruled that preparing a terrorist attack was not in itself an offence under the legislation. The decision highlighted a longstanding gap in New Zealand’s counterterrorism laws.

Along with several judicial decisions, there have been five significant investigations after the attack, including the Co-ordinated Review of the Management of the Lynnmall Supermarket Attacker report by the Inspector-General of SIS, the IPCA chairman and chief inspector of the Office of the Inspectorate of the Department of Corrections.

Further to the IPCA report, a Corrections inspectorate report, a review of Immigration New Zealand (INZ) files relating to Samsudeen conducted by Michael Heron KC and a police investigation report were completed.

The co-ordinated review found there was insufficient preparation and priority among Corrections, police and intelligence services to deradicalise Samsudeen.

Government ministers said they accepted the review’s findings, which referenced missed opportunities to provide rehabilitation, insufficient co-ordination between agencies, a reluctance to share information about the risk Samsudeen posed, and his placement in custody on remand for an “unacceptably long” period which “greatly exacerbated his risk of causing harm”.

The hearing is expected to continue until Wednesday and will also hear submissions on behalf of Corrections, INZ, SIS, Samsudeen’s former immigration lawyer, Federation of Islamic Associations of NZ, the Glen Eden mosque, and Countdown.

Sam Hurley is the Herald’s news director and joined in 2017 after previously working for 1News and Hawke’s Bay Today. He led a multi-year Herald investigation into New Lynn terrorist Ahamed Samsudeen.