A family who moved to New Zealand just three months ago has been left too scared to go outside after a dairy worker was fatally stabbed outside their home.
On November 23, Janak Patel was working at Rose Cottage Superette in the Auckland suburb of Sandringham when he was killed in an armed robbery gone wrong.
Patel’s death sparked nationwide protests, with the strength of the turnout in Auckland alone forcing police to close roads.
But for Shabina, her husband Afzal, and their two daughters, the street where Patel was attacked is home.
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Stuff has agreed not to use the family’s surname or to identify their children due to fears for their safety.
“It’s really shaken all of us. We’re terrified,” Shabina said.
She and her two young daughters moved to Aotearoa from Dubai in August to join Afzal, who had come to New Zealand to complete his master’s degree three years earlier.
Last Wednesday, the family were conducting their Maghrib, or evening prayer, when they heard sirens and saw lights outside.
GEORGE HEAGNEY/Stuff
Janak Patel’s death inspired vigils and protests throughout the country.
“I really thought one of my neighbours wasn’t well … we were praying that whoever it was that was unwell would be well,” Shabina said.
“We didn’t think he’d die. We’d just met him the other day. We popped into the dairy to buy bananas.”
The house was quiet during prayers and the family could hear the police helicopter directly ahead.
”I’ve never heard helicopter sounds like this back in Dubai, we were wondering if this is something that’s usual in New Zealand.”
Ricky Wilson/Stuff
Janak Patel was stabbed to death while working at Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham.
The family spent last Thursday and Friday living inside the police cordon erected around the crime scene.
They were too scared to leave the house at all on Thursday – not even sending their children to school.
On Friday, they had to ask permission to go through the cordon to drop one of the girls at class.
Shabina was too scared to be left home alone, so she sat in the car while Afzal went to work.
“I won’t let my daughters go out without me or stay home without me now either. I even take them with me when I go to work.”
The family all slept in the same room for two days and are going to get CCTV installed. Shabina said she would never send her daughters alone to the shop again.
Friends and family back in Dubai were now asking them if New Zealand was a safe place to raise their children, she said.
Moving to a new continent had been challenging and having someone die outside their home had brought in a “big fear factor”, she said.
ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF
Wellington dairy owners and workers outside Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson’s electorate office in Wellington on November 28. They were taking part in a nationwide protest following the death of dairy worker Janak Patel.
“Everyone keeps saying that New Zealand is a good place. I hope so.”
A 34-year-old appeared in the Auckland District Court last Saturday, charged with Patel’s murder.
A 42-year-old man and a 36-year-old man have also been arrested in relation to the incident. They both face charges of robbery in relation to a cash register, butane lighters and vapes.
All three will appear at the High Court in Auckland next month. None can yet be named.
Police have also located and seized a vehicle that was being sought in relation to the investigation.
This week, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster also announced officers would step up patrols in areas experiencing the most retail burglaries and robberies.
He said this was to offer reassurance to businesses and communities that felt unsafe in the light of Patel’s death.
Operation Cobalt – the police operation focusing on gang crime – would be broadened to focus on offenders who caused significant and repeated harm, and would continue into the New Year, Coster said.
Jericho Rock-Archer/Stuff
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster
The operation would also now include those using stolen vehicles and threatening violence with weapons.
“There is no doubt the recent tragic death of Janak Patel in Sandringham has impacted our communities, including our staff who are working hard to support retailers,” Coster said.
“Police’s role is very clear: we have an obligation to the community, and we will respond, investigate, apprehend and hold people to account.”
