Inquest into LynnMall attacker's death hears he had 'zero' chance of survival after being shot by police
Photo:
2021 Getty Images / NZ Herald / Greg Bowker
A forensic pathologist says some of the gunshots fired at LynnMall attacker Ahamed Samsudeen went through vital organs, leaving him no chance of survival.
The
coronial inquest
into Samsudeen's death has resumed in Auckland after a break on Monday.
Samsudeen
attacked four women and one man with a knife at a Countdown supermarket in Auckland's New Lynn in 2021
, before being shot and killed by police.
Forensic pathologist Dr Kilak Kesha conducted the post-mortem on Samsudeen. He found drugs in his system, but also a small amount of alcohol, likely a by-product of decomposition.
Antidepressants were also detected, he said.
Kesha told the inquest on Tuesday that Samsudeen died quickly from the gunshot wounds. He said four of the wounds would have been rapidly fatal.
"It means that the gunshot wounds hit vital organs, and without immediate medical attention survivability is zero."
Bullets pierced Samsudeen's heart, spleen, intestine and lungs, he said.
"The mechanism of death is exsanguination or blood los - all of [the bullets] contributed to blood loss, so all of them contributed to death."
Police counsel Alysha McClintock asked Kesha about the overall impact to a person's body after being hit by as many bullets as Samsudeen was.
"After the autopsy, looking at all the injuries, the survivability is zero," Kesha said.
The coronial inquest continues.
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