Woman forced to leave dying husband’s side
A woman who was forced to leave the side of her bleeding husband following the terror attack at Christchurch's Linwood Islamic Centre only discovered he had died the following day after seeking help from then-prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
Saira Patel's husband, Musa Patel, was one of seven people who died after being shot at the Linwood Islamic Centre, following the massacre at nearby Al Noor Mosque on March 15, 2019.
Supported by her son, Patel yesterday told the inquest into the deaths that she and her husband were praying in separate parts of the mosque on the day of the attack. Patel said she thought a tyre had blown when she heard a loud bang. A baby began to cry, and she could soon smell gunpowder. She yelled, “Someone is shooting, someone is shooting” as people ran to escape.
When she found her bleeding husband, she told the Coroners Court, she could hear him saying his “last prayer” as if he knew he was about to die. She said she was forced to leave when police arrived and started treating Musa Patel, an order that distressed her to this day.
“My presence during his final moments would have made a big difference in my life and I think maybe his last moments of departing this world,” she said.
She did not know her husband had died until the following day, when she approached then-prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who led her to a counsellor.
Patel said the counsellor showed her a photo of an unidentified man in hospital who was not her husband. “I knew then that my husband was dead. There was no-one else who could have identified him, and this last unidentified man was my last hope,” she said.
Dr Alison Wooding of nearby Piki
Te Ora Medical Centre was one of the doctors who treated Musa Patel when staff went to the mosque to help the injured. She told the court he was meant to be the first victim taken to hospital but realised he had died after he was moved onto a stretcher. She said she and others were talking to Musa Patel the entire time they cared for him, but she did not recall him responding. Police officers gave evidence yesterday saying Musa Patel had been able to communicate with them at first but his condition deteriorated.
Earlier yesterday, the coroner queried a “significant blind spot” in the way St John ambulance officers work with specialist paramedics trained to work in dangerous situations. Deputy chief coroner Brigitte Windley questioned St John duty manager Bruce Chubb about the organisation's response massacre.
Two special emergency response team (SERT) paramedics were among ambulance officers who went to the scene on Linwood Ave. No-one from St John attended the Al Noor scene in a SERT capacity.
Chubb told the Coroners Court SERT teams worked under police and it was not uncommon for St John not to know when they had been requested, where they were, or what they were doing.
In response, coroner Windley said: “My concern is that that creates a significant blind spot for St John, doesn’t it? Isn’t it that these are critical resources in terms of closing that care gap for people who are dying and injured and being able to get a response in, and you've got no visibility about where they are and even if in fact they've been deployed?”
Chubb said he was not suggesting it was “OK” that St John did not know where SERT officers were but said it was the practice at the time. He was not aware of any changes to the policy since.
He earlier told the inquest he believed general ambulance officers should not have entered either mosque immediately after the shootings because of the safety risk. Windley said the court was concerned St John ambulance officers had to breach the organisation's policy in order to get an emergency response in place.
“Do you agree that that's fundamentally a problem?” she asked. “Yes,” Chubb replied.
Chubb had told counsel for families Kathryn Dalziel the attack was a catastrophic event that he did not expect and was never prepared for. “I don't believe any of my colleagues were either, so it was fundamentally overwhelming.”