Blood and bravery in the aisles
Harrowing security camera footage shows what happened during a ‘‘frenzied’’ and unprovoked stabbing attack that ‘‘shocked the nation’’ – and the bravery of those who fought back.
The footage of the attack, which lasts just over 90 seconds, has been viewed by The Press but remains suppressed by the court, meaning it cannot be shared publicly.
It shows Luke James Lambert, now 42, walking to the pharmacy aisle of Countdown Central Dunedin on May 10, 2021.
He ignores other customers, including a small child, before putting down a black Star Wars stormtrooper backpack, and taking out a four-pack of vegetable knives he had taken from another aisle.
He removes two of the knives and walks up behind a female worker, whose name is suppressed, pulls her to one side, and begins stabbing her. It was the day of her 50th birthday.
As she walks backwards, he trips her to the ground, and continues to stab her neck. ‘‘He chose me,’’ she told the High Court at Lambert’s sentencing in Dunedin yesterday.
Justice Jonathan Eaton told Lambert there was ‘‘no mistake’’ that his victims were vulnerable. He then sentenced Lambert to 13 years in prison, with a minimum non-parole period of 61⁄2 years. The security camera footage shows Lambert inflicting a 16-centimetre wound, from the supermarket worker’s left earlobe to her chin, and multiple defensive wounds to her hands, as her colleague, Dallas Wilson, rushes to her aid.
But Lambert has a knife in each hand, and as Wilson grabs him he is stabbed four times, including a deep wound to his intestine. Each of those wounds narrowly missed a major blood vessel, which would have been fatal.
Off-duty Corrections officer Jorge Fuenzalida, 61, can be seen trying to stop Lambert, who stabs him on his left arm, neck, and chest.
His wife Vanessa Andrews rushes to his aid, but is stabbed four times in the back. Later, outside Lambert’s sentencing,
Fuenzalida calls his wife ‘‘my hero, because if she hadn’t intervened, I’d be dead’’.
An off-duty police officer said in a statement that she ‘‘heard a female screaming, the type of screaming that makes your stomach sink’’.
‘‘I could see people running in the next aisle, then more yelling and screaming.’’
She initially thought Lambert was punching people because of how fast his hands were moving, but then ‘‘realised he was stabbing people’’.
‘‘He was intentionally going for people’s necks.’’
She ran to pull him off the couple as others came to her aid. The video shows her using a chair to slow Lambert down, while a fellow officer throws items at Lambert to distract him.
That detective constable, who is also unnamed, was on a late lunch break when he heard the shouts about a knife.
The footage shows several of the large bottles connecting with Lambert, allowing others to intervene.
The detective constable then grabs a nearby chair and starts hitting Lambert to try to get him to drop the knife.
The floor was incredibly slippery from spilled cleaning products and blood, the off-duty officer said.
‘‘We got him to the ground and restrained him. Others assisted and helped hold him to the ground,’’ she said.
‘‘He wouldn’t let go of knives and kept trying to get up, he wasn’t going to stop. I recall looking back down the aisle and seeing a lot of cops coming towards us and felt so relieved.’’
As others rush to the aisle, Lambert tries to break free from the three people who have him pinned, but not before a passing elderly lady hits him several times with her crutch.
The detective constable said in his statement that with Lambert facing him, he thought he would be stabbed next, so ‘‘I knew he had to be kept there until help arrived’’.
A larger number of armed police then arrived from the Dunedin Central Police Station, next door to the supermarket, and give the victims first aid.
Lambert was expressionless during yesterday’s sentencing.
That included during the victim impact statements, when his first victim told him she pitied him, but was moving on.
‘‘You have stripped a year of my life away from me. I am not angry at you and I forgive you.’’
Justice Eaton noted Lambert tried to buy two beers at the supermarket earlier on May 10, but his card was declined. He later told an associate that ‘‘someone was going to get it’’ because he had been denied medication. No further details of what he meant existed.
The court heard the death of Lambert’s beloved dogs and mother was a significant turning point for him. He became increasingly withdrawn from society, effectively becoming a hermit in the seaside settlement of Moeraki and then living in his car.
In the days after the offending he maintained he had no memory of what happened, but admitted his involvement after seeing the footage, describing himself as a ‘‘time bomb’’.
The court noted he had minor convictions – none involving violence – but had become increasingly preoccupied with conspiracy theories.
Death by police, as mentioned by his defence counsel, was a possible motive.
An off-duty police constable heard Lambert say ‘‘they are witches’’ and ‘‘they are wearing black’’, the court was told.
She also recalled him saying ‘‘shoot me’’.
When asked why he stabbed people, he said witches had told him to make a bloodbath.
Multiple deaths were avoided thanks to the effort of those who stepped in, Justice Eaton said, before telling Lambert his offending ‘‘shocked the nation’’.
‘‘He was intentionally going for people’s necks.’’
Off-duty police officer