Samsudeen died after being shot 12 times by the police. Photo: Supplied
Survivors of a terror attack at Auckland's LynnMall nearly four years ago are expected to give personal statements at an inquest into the death of their attacker - Ahamed Samsudeen - at a coroner's court in Auckland today.
The first phase of the coronial inquest into the death of Ahamed Samsudeen will take place over the next two weeks.
On 3 September 2021, during Auckland's Covid-19 lockdown, Samsudeen stabbed five people, after taking a knife from the supermarket shelf at the Woolworths in LynnMall.
Two others were also injured in the process.
Samsudeen died after being shot 12 times by the police.
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He was under surveillance at the time, after being released from prison months before the attack.
Since the terror attack, his history and the moments leading to his death have been scrutinised by multiple agencies, including the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, the Office of the Inspectorate at the Department of Corrections, and the Independent Police Conduct Authority, who found that police were justified in their shooting of him.
However, the scope of this inquest will reveal to the public previously unheard details of the attack, Samsudeen's path to extremism, and the management of him in the community.
It will also explore the circumstances that that lead Samsudeen to carry out the attack, and the impact it had on victims and witnesses.
Phase one of the inquest will focus on the events of the day of the attack.
Phase two and phase three of the inquest are expected to take place later this year and early next year, with dates yet to be confirmed.
On Wednesday, the inquest is expecting to hear accounts of the events of 3 September from some of the survivors and witnesses.
Samsudeen was granted refugee status in 2013 and was identified by the SIS as a terrorist threat in early 2017.
He was arrested at Auckland Airport in 2017 for allegedly expressing intent to join the Islamic State, and was subsequently jailed for four years over a set of charges including - two charges of using a document for pecuniary advantage, failing to assist the police in their exercise of a search power and representative charges of knowingly distributing restricted material; later possessing an objectionable publication and failing to assist a police officer.
Samsudeen's refugee status was cancelled in 2019, but authorities were unable to deport him upon his release from prison in 2021 - as he was still qualified as a protected person under the Immigration Act.
In the months leading up to the attack, Sumsudeen was staying at a mosque, as the police continued to surveil him without his knowledge.
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