The second and third phases of the inquest<\/a> began in Auckland last week, and aim to examine how the Sri Lankan refugee became radicalised in New Zealand.<\/p>\n He was flagged by authorities as being influenced by a rapidly growing jihadist group \u2013 the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) \u2013 by 2016, and was arrested the following year and remanded in custody for four years.<\/p>\n He was sentenced and released in July of 2021 and committed the attack seven weeks later.<\/p>\n Part of the testimony Samsudeen\u2019s relative gave was read out by Coroner Marcus Elliott last week. A redacted version was released to the media this morning.<\/p>\n The relative said that Samsudeen\u2019s time in prison, including 17 months in segregation, and dealings with the justice system had \u201cexhausted\u201d him.<\/p>\n What unfolded in the supermarket was unlike his true character and she believed \u201csomething was done to provoke him\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was not himself.\u201d<\/p>\n He \u201cespecially\u201d would not have hurt his elderly and female victims<\/a>, as he treasured his elders and had a \u201csoft spot\u201d for the \u201cweak and vulnerable\u201d.<\/p>\n The relative said on the day he died, Samsudeen was acting out his normal routine of shopping and Friday prayer.<\/p>\n \u201cI wonder if anyone knew of his routine and used that knowledge to make something happen to him,\u201d she questioned.<\/p>\n Samsudeen\u2019s early life and move to NZ<\/p>\n Her testimony began, however, by detailing how Samsudeen was a happy teenager and good student.<\/p>\n But when he was kidnapped and tortured by \u201cpolitical enemies\u201d in Sri Lanka, it \u201cwounded him\u201d physically and psychologically, she said.<\/p>\n She said he chose to move to New Zealand as he was looking for a \u201cbeautiful\u201d and \u201cpeaceful\u201d country where he could continue his studies away from Sri Lanka\u2019s \u201cproblems\u201d.<\/p>\n When he first arrived, however, he would fall asleep while on the phone with the relative because he didn\u2019t want to be alone or with the lights off, she said.<\/p>\n Her testimony told how Samsudeen had seriously injured his back by carrying a microwave to a mosque on foot during Ramadan because he thought God would \u201creward him\u201d for his efforts.<\/p>\n This led to a separated spinal disc and months in bed where he was online a lot.<\/p>\n \u201cThis period is what exposed him too much to graphic material online,\u201d her evidence said.<\/p>\n During those bedridden three months, she said Samsudeen became isolated, helpless and lonely.<\/p>\n After his back healed, she encouraged him to get out into the community and go on group trips.<\/p>\n It was during one of those trips that a photo of him holding a gun was taken and he shared it on social media.<\/p>\n The woman said that photo was \u201cused to suggest him as a terrorist,\u201d but it was not a real gun, and there was never any \u201cill intention\u201d behind posting it.<\/p>\n His 2017 arrest<\/p>\n When Samsudeen was first arrested, the woman said she didn\u2019t think it was serious, and when he was arrested a second time while on bail in 2018, she was \u201ccompletely in the dark\u201d about his situation.<\/p>\n For the first two years he was in prison, she said Samsudeen would call her and never let on about the \u201cworry and loneliness\u201d he was suffering.<\/p>\n Looking back on their conversations, the woman suspected that New Zealand authorities didn\u2019t want to release him but couldn\u2019t prove their allegations.<\/p>\n She thought his time in segregation would have had a \u201cpsychological effect\u201d on him.<\/p>\n Upon his release, Samsudeen was being followed by undercover police, she said, which the woman said made him nervous and he was showing signs of stress, having lost a significant amount of hair while in prison.<\/p>\n \u2018Provoked, threatened or cornered\u2019<\/p>\n She said she \u201ccannot believe\u201d Samsudeen had attacked vulnerable people with a knife in a supermarket.<\/p>\n The relative said she would like to investigate what \u201cprovoked, threatened or cornered\u201d Samsudeen into that situation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a sad ending to the life of a person with a beautiful heart,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cSadly, his life is now defined by his final years which seem to be the worst of his life.\u201d<\/p>\n She said his life took a particular turn because of how he was \u201cregarded and treated\u201d by those on his criminal case, who she believed didn\u2019t help him.<\/p>\n She asked the court to investigate what \u201creally happened\u201d to Samsudeen on September 3, 2021.<\/p>\n What was also distressing, her evidence dated February 2025 said, was that Samsudeen\u2019s burial went ahead without his family\u2019s approval and they didn\u2019t know where he was buried. <\/p>\n \u201cI am curious as to why the police rushed the burial of his body.\u201d <\/p>\n The relative said the authorities claimed it was a \u201cmiscommunication\u201d that he was buried without their permission, which she said was untrue.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have lost faith in the system.\u201d <\/p>\n Yesterday afternoon, the inquest heard in-person testimony from Detective Superintendent Sean Hansen, who has been part of the police\u2019s National Security Group since 2021.<\/p>\n Fletcher Pilditch, KC, representing the interests of Samsudeen\u2019s family, asked Hansen about the multi-Government agency \u201cco-ordinated review\u201d into Samsudeen\u2019s death.<\/p>\n The review found that he had spent an \u201cunduly lengthy\u201d time in custody on remand that had magnified his grievances against the system as well as his \u201calienation, hostility and risk of increased radicalisation\u201d.<\/p>\n Pilditch asked if Hansen agreed with that observation, to which he replied \u201cpotentially\u201d, but it was important to look at the broader context, with the benefit of hindsight.<\/p>\n Hansen said when police first dealt with Samsudeen in 2016, when they twice visited him to warn him about posting images and videos of graphic violence on Facebook, he had already been radicalised.<\/p>\n By that time the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service had flagged that Samsudeen wished to travel to Syria to join ISIS, and later that year he took a trip to Samoa in what Hansen said was a test by Samsudeen to see if he could travel freely.<\/p>\n Pilditch asked if radicalisation was on a spectrum of how entrenched a person could be, and whether 2016 would have been a good time to intervene.<\/p>\n Hansen replied that in that year, Samsudeen was painting a false picture to police that led them to believe he was not a concern, when he probably was.<\/p>\n The court heard that after the Christchurch mosque terror attack in 2019, all agencies changed their response to terrorism, but anti-terror legislation was still in its fledgling stages.<\/p>\nAhamed Samsudeen in the High Court in Auckland in 2018. Photo \/ Greg Bowker<\/p>\n
Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen pictured taking aim with a firearm in a photo from one of his social media accounts, which were later deleted. <\/p>\n