The former mentor of the man stabbed six people at an Auckland supermarket has spoken about his radical ideas of Islam.
By Finn Blackwell of RNZ
Ahamed Samsudeen was shot 12 times by police, ending the attack.
A coronial inquest into his death is underway, looking at the time leading up to the attack and this path to violent extremism.
The coroner heard from a man who supported Samsudeen when he first arrived in New Zealand 2011. He cannot be named.
Authorities first arrested Samsudeen in 2017 at Auckland Airport, with the Security Intelligence Service believing he was travelling to Syria to join Islamic State fighters there.
He denied charges against him throughout his remand in prison, suggesting he was persuaded into posting extremist content on social media by a man who befriended him.
His mentor said Samsudeen would call him while in prison to vent his frustrations.
"He always kept saying, 'I didn't do anything, I didn't do anything'," he said.
"I always advise him to be patient, do your daily prayers and ask Allah the almighty that you can be released, just go with the flow, don't be aggressive.
"He tried to blame the authorities, 'They don't know, they're wrong,' these kind of things, so I tried to tell him to be patient."
He said Samsudeen was expressing radical ideas of Islam.
"He would always try to blame us, like me, 'What you're talking is basic, what you're doing and practising is basic, it's not enough'."
His mentor said Samsudeen believed Muslims around the world were being cornered and harmed, and that he needed to do something about it.
Samsudeen was bailed to a mosque in 2018, where his mentor encouraged him to engage in positive sermons and messages from the Quran.
"We told him just be part of it, we thought that... he could change."
Samsudeen thought that too was basic.
"The talk was not enough for him."
Questioned by police counsel Sarah Murphy, the man said Samsudeen was stubborn and resistant to change.
Missed opportunity to intervene
Next to give evidence was forensic psychiatrist Dr Justin Barry-Walsh from the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC).
He was approached to assist in police's investigation, but never got the chance to assess Samsudeen himself.
"I would have been looking to see whether there was evidence of mental illness," he said.
"Beyond that, understanding something of how he came to be in the position that he was in, understanding what led him down the pathway that he found himself on."
Barry-Walsh said there could have been an opportunity to intervene with Samsudeen, if the services were there at the time.
"If our service had existed in 2016 [...] he would have met criteria then, based on what I know now, for referral to a lone actor grievance fuelled violence FTAC, and that would've presented an opportunity to intervene at an earlier stage."
A risk to women
Turning to Samsudeen's behaviour toward women, Barry-Walsh said he was concerned by his fixation with his lawyer, saying a reasonable conclusion to draw was that Samsudeen might have had erotomanic-delusions.
Coroner Marcus Elliott had previously said there was evidence in the time after his 2021 release from prison, and leading up to the attack, Samsudeen acted inappropriately towards a police officer and his lawyer.
"There is evidence that he became fixated, that he communicated inappropriately, refusing to desist when asked, and that he engaged in stalking and harassment, all of which resulted in much distress."
Barry-Walsh was asked what steps could have been taken to address Samsudeen's mental health after his release from prison in 2021.
"I think it would have been really difficult, unless you had good going grounds to arrange for an assessment under the Mental Health Act which, with all the issues operating at that time including that it was during [Covid] lockdown, including that this man was seen at a high risk of serious violence, the particular nature of his risks, the fact that so much information about him that was important was also classified in various ways...
"I'm sure it could've been done, but it would've required quite a lot of planning, and thought, and discussion with the services, and that something that our service at FTAC does quite a bit."
He believed Samsudeen posed a risk to women in general.
"Firstly, because he was stalking a woman. But, beyond that, and unfortunately some of this is in retrospect but even at the time, I appreciated that there was evidence of misogyny as part of his world view," Barry-Walsh said.
"It certainly is an area that I would've wanted to explore more, particularly with him."
The inquest continues.
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