Focus Live: PM speaks to media at Auckland Central Police Station. Video / NZ Herald
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has spoken with the family of the dairy worker who was killed in Auckland this week.
“I would describe the conversation as full of sorrow,” she said while addressing the media at the Auckland Central Police Station with Minister of Police Chris Hipkins after meeting with the grieving community.
Newly married worker Janak Patel was stabbed on Wednesday night near the Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham, Ardern’s electorate.
Ardern said she hadn’t yet been able to meet with the family in person.
“I’m very mindful of the fact they haven’t yet laid their loved one to rest ... but I would like to meet with them face to face.
“I will continue to take my steer from the family as to what kind of conversations and communication they would like to have in this horrific period of mourning and grief.”
Ardern said she had reached out to the owner of the dairy but said she had not yet visited the shop.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Police Minister Chris Hipkins address media after visiting a grieving Sandringham community.
“The most important thing for us today was to meet with those that were affected.
“I’ve reached out to the owner and spoken to the family, they are the focus for me.”
Ardern said she had met with police, justice, and Oranga Tamariki on the day of the stabbing about the rise of crime.
She said a Cabinet meeting will be held on Monday to look at and discuss the possible options regarding crime prevention and again, what more could be done.
“It has to be a mix of prevention, intervention, and responsibility. Prosecuting and holding to account those who are responsible.
“I think the most important thing is that we are able to talk directly with one another.”
Ardern said she had “presided” over a Government that had increased police numbers and resources.
She said sentences had also not lessened.
“We have been looking to add tools, we have not taken them away ... We have been doing that for some time now.”
Hipkins said police were working with retailers to try to do things “to keep themselves safe”. Individual assessments of stores were being carried out.
“Police on a daily basis are giving businesses daily guidance on how they can keep themselves safe.”
They are a 34-year-old man found at a New Lynn address, who has been charged with aggravated robbery and murder, and a 42-year-old charged with robbery.
“That will bring some relief of course but it will not take away the grief that the family is feeling at this time,” Ardern said.
Dairy and Business Owners Group chairman Sunny Kaushal earlier said Patel’s wife was “in trauma ... she is not speaking”.
The dairy is in Ardern’s electorate, and she had not visited the area since the death.
Kaushal wrote in an opinion piece for the Herald: “Giving 16-year-olds the vote has the Prime Minister giddy with excitement while the death of a dairy worker in her own electorate generates tea and sympathy.”
He called on the Government to admit there was a “crime emergency” in New Zealand.
Police at the scene where a shopkeeper was fatally stabbed in an aggravated robbery at the Rose Cottage Superette on Fowlds Ave in Sandringham. Photo / Hayden Woodward
“There has to be a wake-up call because something is rotten that a hard-working young man who started work in a dairy, never went home to his spouse,” Kaushal wrote. “We have a crime emergency but we also have a social emergency.”
The Government and Ardern have also come under fire from Act Party leader David Seymour, who said the Prime Minister had displayed a “complete lack of judgment” by opting to visit the Chatham Islands and not her grief-stricken electorate.
“Instead of dropping everything to be in her electorate and making the response to retail crime a priority, she is on a plane to the Chathams,” Seymour said.
Ardern defended her trip, her first visit to the Chathams, saying she had been in touch with some Mt Albert community leaders and she also didn’t want to disturb Patel’s grieving family.
“It is my local community so I will be looking to be present there as soon as I’m able to,” the Prime Minister said.
“But I’m also very aware there’s a family grieving and there is an active police investigation into a homicide and I do need to delicately balance being in the right place in the right time.”
Ardern also rejected any suggestion that her not being in Sandringham represented a Government not doing enough to address crime.
Dairy and Business Owners Group chair Sunny Kaushal at the scene of the fatal stabbing. Photo / Jed Bradley
Mourners are set to gather tonight for a candlelit vigil near the scene of the death of Patel — a man remembered as a “cherished loved one” — as shock waves about the “heinous” fatal stabbing continue to be felt in communities throughout the country.
Those present are expected to include a large number of dairy workers and owners.
“I need justice for my brother,” Patel’s sister told the Weekend Herald via an intermediary last night.
She called on the killer to be held accountable and given “the toughest punishment”.
Patel had only recently moved to Auckland from Hamilton, and was looking after the Rose Cottage Superette while its owners were overseas.
He was fatally injured after following the alleged robber and then allegedly getting into an altercation with him about 100m from the store.
After being stabbed, Patel managed to make it back to the Rose Cottage Superette and call for help, but died soon after. A post-mortem examination was done on Thursday.
Detective Inspector Scott Beard said police hoped the arrests of the two men would “bring some reassurance to the Sandringham community after this tragic event”.
He said police were still seeking sightings of a dark-coloured Honda Inspire seen a number of times.
“We would like to thank all those who have already contacted police with information,” Beard said.
“Police still need to hear from anyone who witnessed the altercation that occurred around 100m from the dairy, or believe they saw the offender on foot, before or after the incident.”
Meanwhile, an Auckland dairy owner whose wife and son were badly injured by a knife-wielding robber in a “terrifying” attack in 2018 says the killing of Janak Patel is a tragedy and sign of growing violence.
“It’s sad that could happen,” Navin Patel, who owns Grey Lynn’s Hylite Dairy, told the Weekend Herald.
“It’s very bad. I think the crime is getting out of control right now.”
In June 2018, Navin Patel’s wife Gita and son Siddhart were attacked as they worked at the family store on Great North Rd.
Anyone with information on this week’s stabbing can contact police via the 105 phoneline, as well as contacting Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
