Trauma lingers for survivors of New Lynn terror attack

The family of the LynnMall supermarket terror attacker continue to struggle with the grief of their youngest son and brother's actions.

Ahamad Samsudeen, 32, was shot dead by police on September 3, 2021, after attacking several shoppers at the Auckland Countdown.

Coroner Marcus Elliott is taking submissions at a hearing in Auckland this week, to establish the scope and shape of a coronial inquiry into the Sri Lankan refugee's death, and to decide if a public inquest is needed.

Barrister Aarif Rasheed who spoke on behalf of the family this morning, said the family was not in a good way.

He says Samsudeen's mother was frail and elderly. His father, who was already ill at the time of the attack, became more unwell and has since died.

"The family faced a number of political consequences as a result of attacks being aired," he said. "The father...he was not able to cope with loss and he eventually passed away."

Rasheed says the family had been distant from Samsudeen for some time, and were already in a "state of angst" about what he was doing as they tried to address some of his thinking.

Samsudeen had arrived in New Zealand in October 2011 on a student visa, and made a refugee claim the following month. That claim was initially declined, before it was approved in 2013.

He first came to the attention of authorities, including the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service in 2016, for posting concerning material online. He was arrested in 2017, over suspicions he planned to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). He was released briefly in 2018 but spent most of the next three years behind bars - a large part of this in segregation.

Rasheed says the family have no desire to prolong the coronial process, but they would like to see if New Zealand authorities could have done more to help, not just their son, but others who are at risk of being radicalised.

"What more can we do, and how can we engage with them more readily?"

Rasheed says the coronial inquiries objectives are in harmony with the Islamic healing process where healing and recovery can happen through learning and growth.

He says the family is "hopeful" that we will be "better prepared to protect all of our public spaces and that this process will bring about change."

Barrister Max Harris submitted key issues he says the family would like to see the Coroner consider, with a particular focus on his mental health.

Among the issues raised was the failure to provide Samsudeen with mental health support while in custody, failure to provide him with religious services, his solitary confinement, and whether his increased incarceration increased the risk of him carrying out the attack.

"We accept that he resisted attempts for support, but I don't think it's contested that there were failings by corrections."

In late 2022 a multi-agency report highlighted how there were missed opportunities to de-readicalise Samsudeen, as officials discounted any chance of rehabilitation being successful.

Harris says it's not about establishing liability, but simply whether a better approach could have prevented his death and others in the future.

"Whether community intervention could have saved his radicalisation, attack and death and if a proper approach could have prevented this and prevent future deaths?"

Harris says the family also would like to know if a different tactical approach could have been employed here, and in the event of future similar situations to prevent death.

He says the question wasn't intended to scrutinise the police actions, as they "showed extraordinary bravery and undoubtedly saved lives".

"It is appropriate for the Coroner to consider whether taser use was available, which would include reflecting on the limits of tasers...and the different likely effects of taser use."

An earlier IPCA report ruled the officers were justified in their shooting of Samsudeen, but Harris says that is different from establishing the circumstances of death and how death can be prevented in similar circumstances in the future.

Survivors of the LynnMall supermarket terror attack are also in support of a public coronial hearing to establish whether more could have been done to prevent what happened.

There were 12 survivors of the attack, six women, and six men, aged between 29 and 77 years of age. These were those who either witnessed the attack, who tried to prevent the attack, or who were injured.

Legal counsel assisting Coroner Anna Adams, who spoke on their behalf at the hearing today, said all have suffered trauma.

"Many face complex issues with memory and recall, distress and privacy and psychological trauma relating to this inquiry.

"Nonetheless, the survivors accept that in this case holding an inquest would assist the inquiry by providing opportunities for the Coroner to hear new evidence, for interested parties to ask questions and for the public to hear the material considered."

She says the survivors have three key questions about what happened that day.

The first question is why police were not inside the supermarket with Samsudeen at the time of the attack?

This was of particular concern given the findings of the IPCA report which illustrated he'd earlier expressed a desire to commit an attack in a crowded place.

They also asked whether there was enough surveillance of him in the community while he was staying at the Glen Eden mosque, in particular whether those at the mosque knew of the risk he posed.

And the third and final question is why he was in New Zealand, given his known terror risk.

The hearing is set to continue till Wednesday and will hear from a number of other interested parties, including Samsudeen's family, the mosque where he stayed, and the various agencies involved.

The Coroner will also be looking at the detail of five previous state agency investigations and previous judicial decisions, as he considers the scope of his inquiry, and if a public inquest is needed.

READ MORE: Don't Forget Us - The survivors of the New Lynn terrorist attack (by Sunday's Tania Page)