Janak Patel dairy worker slaying: Frederick Hobson pleads guilty to murder

A New Zealand business leader has expressed relief that an armed robber responsible for the “callous and despicable murder” of Auckland dairy worker Janak Patel in 2022 has pleaded guilty, reducing somewhat the trauma on the victim’s family.

However, Dairy and Business Association chairman Sunny Kaushal added: “Our hearts still ache for this needless act of violence.”

Kaushal’s statement was issued this afternoon, several hours after Ōtāhuhu resident Frederick Gilbert Hobson pleaded guilty in the High Court at Auckland to aggravated robbery and murder. Hobson, 35, sparked nationwide outrage and widespread protests after stabbing Patel to death in the course of stealing a cash register from the Rose Cottage Superette, a family-run, pink-painted neighbourhood icon in Sandringham.

The 34-year-old victim had just days earlier moved from Hamilton with his newlywed wife to look after the business while its owners were overseas. His death sparked rallying cries from small business owners and employees for the Government to ramp up efforts to combat crime - after what many said had been years of feeling decreasingly safe in their jobs.

That sentiment was echoed by the Dairy and Business Association today.

“New Zealand is becoming a more violent society,” Kaushal said, suggesting violent acts against retailers increased 20 per cent in 2023 and are up 121 per cent since 2015. “That is the national discussion we must start having.”

The anguish and anger in the immediate aftermath of the killing sent a message the nation’s top politicians couldn’t ignore. Then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was among the policymakers who attended Patel’s funeral, as was National MP Mark Mitchell, currently serving as Police Minister.

Hobson stood before Justice Mathew Downs this morning as he entered the guilty pleas, his voice so quiet it could barely be heard across the courtroom.

Janak Kumar Kalidas Patel was stabbed to death in Auckland suburb Sandringham in November 2022 while overseeing a dairy for its owners, who were travelling overseas.

He had been scheduled to go to trial in May. Instead, he will be sentenced in June, the judge announced.

Police were called to the dairy at 8.05pm on November 23, 2022, after Hobson took the cash register armed with a knife. Patel was stabbed several times as he confronted their thief about 100 metres from the business.

Vigils, protests

As the police cordons remained in place in the days that followed, hundreds of people gathered outside the dairy to express their shock and remorse - some placing floral arrangements to remember Patel.

“Dairy shop owners are extremely fearful for their lives,” Kaushal said at the time, blaming a soft-on-crime approach that he reckoned left criminals with no fear of authorities. “Running a business in this country has become very difficult.

“The Government has blood on its hands. [It] owes answers to the worker’s family.”

The sentiment was echoed in Hamilton, where dairy workers gathered to stand in solidarity with Patel. One worker told Newshub the situation was at its worst in more than two decades.

Dairy owners across the country later held a protest in which they closed shop and stood outside their businesses for two hours to highlight the dangers they faced. Ardern, meanwhile, said Cabinet would discuss what more could be done to combat crime.

Frederick Hobson, who fatally stabbed Sandringham dairy worker Janak Patel in the course of a robbery, appears in the High Court at Auckland in 2022. Photo / Michael Craig

“Sitting amongst his family and friends ... brings back the fact that a life has been taken and family’s lives have been shattered,” Ardern told TVNZ’s Breakfast after hugging Patel’s widow at his funeral.

She acknowledged that more work needed to be done to speed up the implementation of retail safety measures such as fog cannons.

Couple had entrepreneurial dream

Patel grew up in the Indian state of Gujarat and spent a decade living in the United Kingdom after completing his education.

He immigrated to New Zealand, joining wife Vijeta after a lengthy separation due to the Covid-19 border closure, just seven months before he died.

The newlyweds had dreamed about someday running their own business, mourners were told during his funeral in Wiri.

Police outside the Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham after worker Janak Patel was stabbed to death during a robbery in November 2022. Photo / Dean Purcell

He was described as a “true family man” who was grounded in religion, loving and “cared for everyone around him”.

His death hit too close to home for many, said Mitesh Dhanji, who emceed the funeral.

“We all come from immigrant families,” he said. “We have seen hardship which we shouldn’t have to.”

In the immediate aftermath of the killing, before any arrests had been made, Patel’s sister said she needed justice for her brother.

“We urge the New Zealand Government to urgently catch the criminal who has taken our brother’s life and hold the murderer accountable and give him the toughest punishment,” she said.

Some of Patel’s family members watched today’s hearing remotely via an audio-video feed, as did Detective Inspector Scott Beard, who oversaw the case and attended Patel’s funeral.

Murder carries an automatic life sentence with a minimum term of imprisonment before parole of at least 10 years unless a judge deems this to be manifestly unjust.

Two other men were arrested and initially charged only with aggravated robbery, but their charges were later upgraded to murder. Both of the other men have pleaded not guilty and await trial.

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.