A year of nightmarish crime
Queen Elizabeth termed the year 1992 “annus horribilis” in what was one of the most depressing years for the Royal family.
The same could be said for Indians in New Zealand for the past one year (or two) as numerous members of the community became crime statistics – in some cases – violently, ending with their deaths.
Murder, unsolved disappearance, road rage, stabbing and shooting incidents horrified the community; even more shocking was the justice meted out to some in the instances they were caught by New Zealand police and hauled before the courts.
Almost exactly a year ago, just as the first issue of the Indian Weekender rolled off the press, journalists from this newspaper were informed of a grim situation: a 78-year-old man had been severely beaten following a road rage incident in Auckland.
Jastmatbhai Patel, of West Auckland, later died in hospital as a result of the injuries he suffered in the beating. The man convicted of Mr Patel’s manslaughter was jailed for three years.
In late January his year, a father of two young children, Hiren Mohini, was stabbed to death in his taxi in the Auckland suburb of Mt Eden by an unknown person; the killer is still at large, believed to have fled the country.
Auckland student Srikanth Rayadurgam, 23, went missing in October. He is yet to be found; although many of his belongings were found strewn near Westhaven Marina soon after he was reported missing (Indian Weekender could not contact Srikanth’s family for an update).
Navtej Singh was shot dead in his liquor store in June 2008. Last month, only one man, out of six, was found guilty of his murder. The rest were found guilty on lesser charges.
Sixteen-year-old Sai Krishna Naidu was stabbed to death in Manurewa in 2008 while helping out in a family member’s dairy.
These are just some of the cases of crimes against members of the Indian community which made headlines in the daily newspapers and on TV.
However, New Zealand police do not believe that Indians are being targeted as a community, says NZ Police Communications Manager Noreen Hegarty.
“As police do not collect victim ethnicity data, I'm unable to say one way or the other whether there's been an increase in offences against members of Indian communities,” Ms Hegarty told the Indian Weekender.
“However, what we can say is that many Indian people are employed in service roles where cash is used – taxi driving, bank tellers, liquor store ownership, dairies, service station attendants.
“It's our experience that it's the role rather than the ethnicity of the person working in it that is vulnerable to opportunist offenders who often seek to obtain quick cash through robbery/assault/theft,” Ms Hegarty said.
On missing student Srikanth Rayadurgam:
“The investigation was scaled down after several months of inquiries into his whereabouts. The missing person file is still open and if anyone has any information about what has happened to him or where he is, they should contact Avondale CIB or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111,” Ms Hegarty said.
Here’s a police account of investigations surrounding Srikanth’s disappearance:
Srikanth's brother-in-law rang 111 at approximately 1 am on Friday 2 October 2009, concerned that his brother-in-law had not returned home. He was advised to report Srikanth missing at his nearest police station the next morning if he had still not returned home by then. He reported him missing at the Avondale Police station at 8.45 on the morning of Friday, October 2.
On Friday October 2, Srikanth's property (a wallet) was located by a cyclist who then contacted AUT who in turn contacted his family directly (not police). Police were notified by Srikanth's sister and brother-in-law later that afternoon that they were at Westhaven where they had recovered some property. They did not notify Police that they had recovered Srikanth's wallet from the cyclist until the following day - October 3.
In the meantime, Police conducted aerial and sea searches that day – i.e. October 2.
A similar air and sea search was conducted on Saturday October 3 and another sea search was carried out on Sunday October 4.
Both the Police Maritime Support and Air Support Units have been requested to - when on the water or in the air since then - remain vigilant in an effort to locate a body.
Police have spent hundreds of hours viewing CCTV footage throughout the Auckland and Karangahape Rd area. Srikanth was seen on K Rd at 8.07pm before disappearing out of sight in Edinburgh St for 20 minutes - an area frequented by prostitutes and transvestites. He is later seen in K Rd before going out of sight.
At 9.49 pm he is seen getting out of a taxi near the corner of Customs and Queen Sts. He walks across the road heading towards Quay St and disappears for approximately 10 minutes before he is seen walking up Queen St, across into Darby St before walking back across Queen St and getting into a taxi at approximately 10.09 pm, which took him to a taxi stand on Ponsonby Rd.
Inquiries to date have been hampered by the fact that Police were not advised that Srikanth had a laptop until 10 days after he went missing.
Very early on in the inquiry, Police requested access to any laptop Srikanth might have owned but were told by his brother-in-law that he did not have one.
Once Police located the laptop, we discovered the activity history had been erased by an unknown person in the days after Srikanth's disappearance. In order to be able to try and recover some of the deleted material, the Police Electronic Crime Lab has carried out an extensive time-consuming examination of the laptop.
Police have also established from examining text messages that, at times, there was some tension in the house between Srikranth and his family.
Police inquiries have established that Srikranth had not been succeeding in a number of papers he was sitting at AUT and had been not attending classes regularly in the second semester. For Srikranth to be able to re-sit these papers would have been an expensive exercise.
In order to further the investigation into Srikanth's disappearance, a senior New Zealand Police Officer (Superintendent) based in Bangkok travelled to India to make inquiries there with Srikanth's family and friends. He was told that Srikanth had communicated with a female friend there that he was unhappy and he missed his life back in India. Srikanth's friend advised she feared for his safety and that he might harm himself.
She got a text from Srikranth just prior to him going missing on about September 30 - the day before he went missing - in which he said he wanted to talk to her one more time.
On the matter of the Hiren Mohini homicide investigation:
“This is an ongoing and active investigation and, while Police have identified a suspect and have a Court-issued warrant for his arrest, he is believed to be in another country. We are working with the appropriate agencies and government representatives to locate him.”
On the matter of the High Court jury trial outcome for the Navtej Singh homicide:
“Police and the Crown brought the prosecution to Court and the jury considered all the facts before them to arrive at the verdicts they did. Police are unable to comment on the outcome other than to say it was a robust and comprehensive investigation and prosecution.”
On the matter of personal/staff safety in vulnerable service roles the generic advice is:
- Where possible, ensure there is an up-to-date and operating video surveillance system installed in any business premise which may be vulnerable.
- Ensure staff are well trained in how to deal with intimidation/threat - never sacrifice life for the sake of a few dollars.
- Where possible, ensure your colleagues know where you are when driving taxis - log into a central system.
- Ensure the interiors of shops/dairies are able to be viewed from the outside by passersby – i.e. don't clutter windows with posters/advertising as this provides "cover" for opportunist criminals.
- Install emergency alarm systems.
Queen Elizabeth termed the year 1992 “annus horribilis” in what was one of the most depressing years for the Royal family.
The same could be said for Indians in New Zealand for the past one year (or two) as numerous members of the community became crime statistics – in some cases – violently,...
Queen Elizabeth termed the year 1992 “annus horribilis” in what was one of the most depressing years for the Royal family.
The same could be said for Indians in New Zealand for the past one year (or two) as numerous members of the community became crime statistics – in some cases – violently, ending with their deaths.
Murder, unsolved disappearance, road rage, stabbing and shooting incidents horrified the community; even more shocking was the justice meted out to some in the instances they were caught by New Zealand police and hauled before the courts.
Almost exactly a year ago, just as the first issue of the Indian Weekender rolled off the press, journalists from this newspaper were informed of a grim situation: a 78-year-old man had been severely beaten following a road rage incident in Auckland.
Jastmatbhai Patel, of West Auckland, later died in hospital as a result of the injuries he suffered in the beating. The man convicted of Mr Patel’s manslaughter was jailed for three years.
In late January his year, a father of two young children, Hiren Mohini, was stabbed to death in his taxi in the Auckland suburb of Mt Eden by an unknown person; the killer is still at large, believed to have fled the country.
Auckland student Srikanth Rayadurgam, 23, went missing in October. He is yet to be found; although many of his belongings were found strewn near Westhaven Marina soon after he was reported missing (Indian Weekender could not contact Srikanth’s family for an update).
Navtej Singh was shot dead in his liquor store in June 2008. Last month, only one man, out of six, was found guilty of his murder. The rest were found guilty on lesser charges.
Sixteen-year-old Sai Krishna Naidu was stabbed to death in Manurewa in 2008 while helping out in a family member’s dairy.
These are just some of the cases of crimes against members of the Indian community which made headlines in the daily newspapers and on TV.
However, New Zealand police do not believe that Indians are being targeted as a community, says NZ Police Communications Manager Noreen Hegarty.
“As police do not collect victim ethnicity data, I'm unable to say one way or the other whether there's been an increase in offences against members of Indian communities,” Ms Hegarty told the Indian Weekender.
“However, what we can say is that many Indian people are employed in service roles where cash is used – taxi driving, bank tellers, liquor store ownership, dairies, service station attendants.
“It's our experience that it's the role rather than the ethnicity of the person working in it that is vulnerable to opportunist offenders who often seek to obtain quick cash through robbery/assault/theft,” Ms Hegarty said.
On missing student Srikanth Rayadurgam:
“The investigation was scaled down after several months of inquiries into his whereabouts. The missing person file is still open and if anyone has any information about what has happened to him or where he is, they should contact Avondale CIB or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111,” Ms Hegarty said.
Here’s a police account of investigations surrounding Srikanth’s disappearance:
Srikanth's brother-in-law rang 111 at approximately 1 am on Friday 2 October 2009, concerned that his brother-in-law had not returned home. He was advised to report Srikanth missing at his nearest police station the next morning if he had still not returned home by then. He reported him missing at the Avondale Police station at 8.45 on the morning of Friday, October 2.
On Friday October 2, Srikanth's property (a wallet) was located by a cyclist who then contacted AUT who in turn contacted his family directly (not police). Police were notified by Srikanth's sister and brother-in-law later that afternoon that they were at Westhaven where they had recovered some property. They did not notify Police that they had recovered Srikanth's wallet from the cyclist until the following day - October 3.
In the meantime, Police conducted aerial and sea searches that day – i.e. October 2.
A similar air and sea search was conducted on Saturday October 3 and another sea search was carried out on Sunday October 4.
Both the Police Maritime Support and Air Support Units have been requested to - when on the water or in the air since then - remain vigilant in an effort to locate a body.
Police have spent hundreds of hours viewing CCTV footage throughout the Auckland and Karangahape Rd area. Srikanth was seen on K Rd at 8.07pm before disappearing out of sight in Edinburgh St for 20 minutes - an area frequented by prostitutes and transvestites. He is later seen in K Rd before going out of sight.
At 9.49 pm he is seen getting out of a taxi near the corner of Customs and Queen Sts. He walks across the road heading towards Quay St and disappears for approximately 10 minutes before he is seen walking up Queen St, across into Darby St before walking back across Queen St and getting into a taxi at approximately 10.09 pm, which took him to a taxi stand on Ponsonby Rd.
Inquiries to date have been hampered by the fact that Police were not advised that Srikanth had a laptop until 10 days after he went missing.
Very early on in the inquiry, Police requested access to any laptop Srikanth might have owned but were told by his brother-in-law that he did not have one.
Once Police located the laptop, we discovered the activity history had been erased by an unknown person in the days after Srikanth's disappearance. In order to be able to try and recover some of the deleted material, the Police Electronic Crime Lab has carried out an extensive time-consuming examination of the laptop.
Police have also established from examining text messages that, at times, there was some tension in the house between Srikranth and his family.
Police inquiries have established that Srikranth had not been succeeding in a number of papers he was sitting at AUT and had been not attending classes regularly in the second semester. For Srikranth to be able to re-sit these papers would have been an expensive exercise.
In order to further the investigation into Srikanth's disappearance, a senior New Zealand Police Officer (Superintendent) based in Bangkok travelled to India to make inquiries there with Srikanth's family and friends. He was told that Srikanth had communicated with a female friend there that he was unhappy and he missed his life back in India. Srikanth's friend advised she feared for his safety and that he might harm himself.
She got a text from Srikranth just prior to him going missing on about September 30 - the day before he went missing - in which he said he wanted to talk to her one more time.
On the matter of the Hiren Mohini homicide investigation:
“This is an ongoing and active investigation and, while Police have identified a suspect and have a Court-issued warrant for his arrest, he is believed to be in another country. We are working with the appropriate agencies and government representatives to locate him.”
On the matter of the High Court jury trial outcome for the Navtej Singh homicide:
“Police and the Crown brought the prosecution to Court and the jury considered all the facts before them to arrive at the verdicts they did. Police are unable to comment on the outcome other than to say it was a robust and comprehensive investigation and prosecution.”
On the matter of personal/staff safety in vulnerable service roles the generic advice is:
- Where possible, ensure there is an up-to-date and operating video surveillance system installed in any business premise which may be vulnerable.
- Ensure staff are well trained in how to deal with intimidation/threat - never sacrifice life for the sake of a few dollars.
- Where possible, ensure your colleagues know where you are when driving taxis - log into a central system.
- Ensure the interiors of shops/dairies are able to be viewed from the outside by passersby – i.e. don't clutter windows with posters/advertising as this provides "cover" for opportunist criminals.
- Install emergency alarm systems.
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