A newspaper reporter who's been following the New Lynn terrorist's legal troubles says when he heard about the attack on Friday, he "had a gut feeling it was probably him immediately".
The Sri Lankan national stabbed six people in a Countdown supermarket just after 2pm, but was shot dead by police within a minute of the attack starting - they had been surveilling him closely for five years, fearing he might one day do something like this.
We can't reveal his name yet, but it is known he's been in and out of court on various charges. The Crown once tried to lay changes under the Terrrorism Suppression Act, accusing him of planning an attack, but the High Court wouldn't allow it because simply planning a terrorist act isn't technically a crime.
He was released from prison earlier this year, and was serving a sentence of a year's supervision at a mosque in west Auckland after pleading guilty to possessing offensive material - Islamic State propaganda.
NZ Herald reporter Sam Hurley has been covering the man's activities for four years. He told Newshub Nation on Saturday when news of the attack broke, he guessed immediately it would be the man he'd been following.
"It was exactly what he said he was going to do… it was a knife attack, which is exactly what he said he was going to do. So I had this horrible feeling it was probably going to be him.
"I knew that he had been spending his supervision sentence at a west Auckland mosque, so the location matched up as well. Unfortunately, as it transpired, it was this terrorist."
The man came to New Zealand in 2011, but there was no indication he had extremist views until five years later "when he started to post these radicalised extremist beliefs on his social media pages". Hurley said this means he was potentially radicalised right here in New Zealand.
"He was talking about sympathy for the terrorists who'd carried out the attacks in Paris and Brussels, and other such terror incidents around the world. From there he began to post more extreme material which included videos and scenes of graphic violence… Some of it was some pretty graphic material and showed some sympathy and allegiance towards Islamic State…
"Then probably of more concern to police was that he went and bought a large hunting knife. He did this twice - after the first knife was confiscated he went and bought an identical knife. These aren't your typical kitchen knives - these were large hunting knives that he would buy from a specialist shop."
The man was arrested in 2017 at Auckland Airport - he'd bought a one-way ticket to Singapore, but police believed he was on his way to Syria, planning to join up with Islamic State. He'd apparently told another worshipper that's what his plans were.
He was released soon afterwards and bought another large knife, which resulted in further charges.
"As you know, these legal proceedings can take years," said Hurley. "That then progressed through to the trial which occurred this year, and he faced those additional charges… [He was] sentenced to more supervision in May and he was released."
Hurley was at the trial, and said the "loophole" in the law prevented police and the Crown from laying charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act.
"Unfortunately the High Court said the legislation simply doesn't allow it. You can't charge someone with an offence of planning a terrorist attack, which is what the Crown was attempting to do. It really shows a bit of a loophole in the law where someone can plan a terrorist attack but can't be charged with an offence. The Crown and police really had their hands tied - they couldn't keep him in custody for much longer."
It's expected the man's name will be made public on Saturday. As of Friday night, none of the victims of the attack had died. Christchurch's Al Noor mosque, which suffered at the hands of a white supremacist terrorist in 2019, has set up a Givealittle fundraising page for the victims of the latest attack.
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