THE ATTACKER

Samsudeen had been known to police and security services since 2016 when he first expressed support for violent extremism.

He had been monitored, warned and was in and out of custody for several years on charges including the possession of objectionable material and an offensive weapon.

From his release on bail on July 13 2021, Samsudeen was under surveillance by police and the force’s Special Tactics Group as he was assessed as being a terrorist threat who wanted to carry out an attack in support of ISIS.  

On September 3 that year, the police officers tracking him stayed outside the supermarket while Samsudeen entered, grabbed a trolley, and pretended to shop for nearly nine minutes. He then picked up a knife from the kitchenware section, unwrapping it in aisle 10 where he attacked the first of his victims.

EZZI JOHNS

Johns was one of the first people stabbed by Samsudeen.

"It was very quick, he stabbed me twice. And he moved on and I was sort of in disbelief. You don't know what just happened.”

As she slumped to the ground Samsudeen stabbed two more people in that aisle, including Judy Beazley, who used to work for Corrections.

On the cold hard floor of Countdown the enormity of Johns’ injuries was starting to dawn on her.

“Holding my side. I noticed that it was sort of getting fuller and you know, you don't think it's your bowels coming out of the side.”

Samsudeen left his first victims and went on to stab three more shoppers.

Johns meanwhile pretended to be dead, terrified he would come back.

By now shoppers were panicking and fleeing for their lives. On the other side of Countdown near the checkout, Andrews, a stay-at-home dad, had heard the commotion.

But rather than run, his instinct was to turn towards danger.

“I thought if somebody had been stabbed then they need somebody to help.”

Tomlinson, a former paramedic, and Andrews both ran towards Samsudeen who by now had returned to his first victims in aisle 10.

It was Johns’ worst fear. Samsudeen was back.

“He came on top of me and stabbed me again. Twice.”

Andrews saw it all. His voice waivers and cracks as he retells the horror unfolding in front of him.

"He was just standing over this body, he was just trying to cut her head off.”

Evidence of the deep, long slices remain on Johns’ throat and neck despite the surgeon’s skill. Two long scars cut across her chin, right around to the back of her right ear. She lost her right ear lobe in the onslaught.

Perhaps the only saving grace of the experience was that although she was terrified, the shock cushioned other sensations.

“I didn't feel any pain at all, it was sort of like a warm feeling. But I didn't feel any pain at all to be honest. So I'm very blessed in that way, yeah.”

Andrews and Tomlinson yelled and distracted Samsudeen who followed them into the next aisle over where, 2 minutes and 19 seconds after the first stabbing, he was also confronted by armed police and Special Tactics officers.

After refusing to drop the knife Samsudeen was shot dead.

Andrews and Tomlinson then ran to treat the stabbing victims.

Having had extensive experience dealing with trauma injuries, and training on how to mentally and emotionally cope with such confronting scenes, Tomlinson has come through the terror attack relatively well.

But Andrews is a different story.

He used his own t-shirt to try and stem Johns’ blood loss and put pressure on her extensive wounds while also trying to reassure her.

“I said to Ezzi that we were going to have a birthday party together. That this wasn't going to get her and he wasn't going to beat her.”

Tomlinson was detailing the injuries to emergency services and spotted Johns’ abdomen wound.

“We had to try and roll her off the left side and then roll her back and it got rolled over and it all came out and her insides all came out.”

Andrews literally held Johns together on the lino floor and has been deeply emotionally scarred by the experience.

Like several of the other survivors he struggles to sleep, finds trips to the supermarket triggering. Even the sound of sirens, trolleys or people running is enough to put him on edge.

But not for one minute does he regret his decision to help that day.

THE AFTERMATH 

Because Johns was physically injured she was automatically classified as a victim and qualified for ACC.

"ACC has been amazing. I've gotten everything that I needed,” she said.
She has undergone multiple surgeries, speech therapy and earlobe reconstruction.

Having come through the most difficult physical side of the recovery, now she is facing the emotional and psychological side.

"In the beginning, it was empowering to look at it (the scars) and see like I'm healing from this. But now, looking at it, the only thing that I sort of see is - what happened? Why do I have all these scars?

“So hopefully, soon, I will be able to look at them again and feel empowered by them. And not sad and broken in a way.”

Unable to return to her job as an early childhood teacher ACC has covered 80% of her salary as well as regular sessions with a psychologist.

"It's been ongoing and it's been great. And they are there for me whenever I need them.”

But Andrews was initially classified as a witness. Because he wasn't physically injured, he didn't qualify for ACC support.

“I know I died a little that day, my innocence died. So quite a big burden to carry.”

Andrews was left without any assistance for nearly three weeks, during which time he was so desperate he sought out his own mental health support.

He’s tormented by the thought he could have done more, and sometimes goes back to where it all happened, in his mind, and in reality.

"I can still see the floor where what happened. It's polished to a different level to the rest of the supermarket. Some days I walk in there and everything is like it was and other days just smell of milk or something, it's quite debilitating. But it doesn't matter what supermarket you go to. That is how terrorism works, right, it stops you doing your day-to-day stuff.”

After 20 days Andrews received news he could access some limited services.
"I got an email from Victim Support and they had offered me 10 sessions of care with some prescribed providers,” Andrews said.

It followed his reclassified to a victim, because Samsudeen swung the knife at him so closely, had the attacker survived he could have been charged with grievous bodily harm.

But he chose to stick with the mental health therapist he’d already found.
Nearly two years on he’s still haunted by that day and, along with the wider group, determined to see change that will mean all people who experience terror attacks, whether physically hurt or not, are afforded the right level of wraparound care. That could be from ACC or from another new entity which they’re lobbying Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to consider establishing.

Johns says she owes Andrews and Tomlinson her life.

“For me, they are the heroes of the day, not only them but the others that helped as well. It's so important for me that they get acknowledged.”

Buoyed by their first face to face meeting with the Prime Minister in early August, the survivor group is determined to keep the pressure on.

“What's really, really clear for me is that all of us were supermarket shopping, we weren't playing contact sports, we weren't doing gardening. We weren't doing the things that ACC covers every day.

“We were involved in a domestic terrorism event and there is no specialised policy for protecting those that didn't get injured but were psychologically affected.”

The Government has committed to looking at getting additional support, but the survivor group insists that unless there is real change New Zealanders are being left exposed by gaps in the ACC system they say is no longer fit for purpose.