Nearly a day after the killing of a young, 34-year-old Kiwi-Indian dairy worker in Auckland’s Sandringham area, the police have begun releasing more information about the incident.
Police enquiries so far have established that after the robbery, at around 8pm, the offender left the store with the cash register drawer and walked about 100m towards Duncan Avenue. He is seen on CCTV footage stopping at a household wheelie bin and placing the drawer inside.
At this point the victim approached him and an altercation took place, at which time the victim received several stab wounds. Police were called to the dairy at the intersection of Haverstock Road and Fowlds Avenue at 8.05pm last night, after an offender entered the store armed with a knife and took the cash register.
Speaking to reporters this morning, Detective Inspector Scott Beard appealed to the public to come forward with information they may have about the incident.
“We have a large team working on this investigation and we will need the public’s help in trying to identify the offender … if there's somebody who knows or has seen anything before or after the incident,” Beard said.
The offender is thought to have been in the area before the incident, Beard said. Asked if there was anybody at the dairy when the incident occurred, he said there wasn’t and that the offender is thought to have acted alone. “There's nothing at this stage to suggest it was more than just one person … we understand [it was] a lone offender.”
In reply to questions, Beard said there was a description of the offender but did not reveal details as the incident was still being pieced together by the police team. The weapon used to stab the victim has also not been found as yet, Beard said. He added that police understood that a till had been taken.
Community distraught
Speaking to Indian Weekender outside the scene of the crime this morning, Rahul Patel, who described himself as being a friend of the deceased said that the police had provided was no information as to the identity of the attacker or how exactly the incident had unfolded.
He said the owners of the dairy were away in India and his friend was standing in for them. His parents were living with his sister in Hamilton, Patel said. The distraught friend urged the government to strengthen the law for offenders and requested the community to come together to ask for tougher laws.
Earlier this morning, Dairy and Business Association chair Sunny Kaushal organised a group of community members to assemble outside the dairy and addressed the gathering. He condoled the death of the young worker who was standing in for the owners who were away overseas. Kaushal said the recently married young man who worked hard all day did not deserve to die in this manner.
He said, “This senseless crime could have been prevented… We have been trying to tell this government for the past five years … had this government listened to us this tragedy would have been prevented. As NZ society, we owe answers to this young man’s family – what are we going to tell his wife… his elderly parents who have lost their young son?
“The government needs to answer. We need to feel safe. Today we will be asking the prime minister and the justice minister and the police minister to come here and apologise to the community.”