Photo: Supplied
Warning: This story contains graphic details that may upset some readers.
The coronial inquest into the death of LynnMall attacker Ahamed Samsudeen continues on Wednesday, after a forensic pathologist explained why he had zero chance of surviving as many as a dozen gunshot wounds.
Samsudeen stabbed four women and one man with a kitchen knife at a Countdown supermarket in Auckland's New Lynn in 2021, before being shot and killed by police.
Two others were injured trying to stop him from harming others.
Forensic pathologist Dr Kilak Kesha conducted the post-mortem on Samsudeen after his death. He told the inquest the attacker died quickly from the gunshot wounds, describing four of them as rapidly fatal because they pierced vital organs.
Kesha described a bullet that passed through the left side of Samsudeen's chest, while being questioned by police counsel Alysha McClintock.
"That's one of the wounds that you considered may have been among those the most rapidly fatal?" McClintock asked.
'Yes, because it passed through the spleen, and the intestines," Kesha said.
Kesha described some of the other gunshot wounds and the impact these had on Samsudeen's body.
"It passed through the heart, the lungs, causing significant bleeding. This one passed through the aorta, the liver, the stomach, and small bowel, causing blood to accumulate in the abdomen."
Ross Tomlinson. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
Earlier in the inquest, survivor Ross Tomlinson described how he used nappies from the supermarket shelves to help with Samsudeen's wounds after he was shot.
A former paramedic with a decade's experience, he said he believed Samsudeen could not have been saved.
McClintock asked Kesha what impact as many as a dozen gunshot wounds would have.
"Is there anything else that you would add about the overall impact on the human body of receiving a total of potentially up to 12 gunshot wounds?" she said.
"After the autopsy, looking at all the injuries, survivability is zero," Kesha replied.
Coroner Marcus Elliott asked about Samsudeen's movements in the moments after he was shot.
"Death is not instantaneous - it takes time to bleed, your heart's got to pump and that blood's got to be lost through the broken vessels," Kesha said.
"People can walk, they can stumble, they can take a few steps, it depends how rapidly the blood is lost."
"So if he had formed the intention at that point to charge, to use that word, it would have been possible for him to do so?" Elliott asked, with Kesha responding that was correct.
The inquest continues on Wednesday with evidence from police officers.
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