Challenge to terror attack cash dropped
The former wife of a March 15 terror attack victim has agreed she is not the rightful recipient of nearly $115,000 in donated money.
When Zeshan Raza, 38, was killed outside Linwood mosque along with his parents who were visiting from Pakistan, a battle began over who was his next of kin.
A Family Court settlement has been reached, which means funds being held will be released to Raza’s sister and remaining member of the immediate family, Mariam Gul.
Gul said she was shocked to be told in June 2019 she needed proof she was the next of kin, after his estranged wife, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed $15,000 in emergency payouts from Victim Support to families of those killed.
The couple had no children and were divorced in Pakistan in May, with the certificate finalised in August 2018, months after they separated.
Gul – who told The Press she was upset her brother’s death was being taken advantage of – filed papers in an Auckland Family Court in September 2019, to have the couple’s divorce recognised in New Zealand.
Two months later, the ex-wife responded by filing court proceedings in Pakistan to declare she was still Raza’s legal heir and that the divorce was not legal.
A New Zealand settlement deed, dated September 9 this year, states she now agrees the marriage was ‘‘validly dissolved’’, that she will withdraw the Pakistani court proceedings and will not make any claims on Raza’s estate in either country. She agreed not to challenge the validity of their divorce again.
Gul provided a $5000 payment as a ‘‘gesture of goodwill and peace’’.
But the Auckland-based woman told The Press she still believed she was his legal wife.
She could no longer take the stress and Gul could ‘‘take all the money’’. She did not want to put her family in danger in Pakistan over their association with money.
The $15,000 payout she got was spent flying her family to New Zealand for a visit, she said.
Gul said her brother moved to Christchurch after his marriage ended.
She was relieved the case was over.
A Victim Support spokesman said the court was the fairest way to settle the dispute over who was the rightful next of kin.
Now an agreement had been reached, $114,406 in ‘‘gifts of love and support from all around the world’’ would be released to Gul.
‘‘We hope that these and our earlier payments help Ms Gul and her family as they rebuild their lives.’’