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Inquest hears ASIO partly to blame for radical Vic teen 'snapping'

The Victorian coroner is conducting an inquest into the death of Numan Haider, who was killed by a shot to the head after he stabbed a Victoria Police officer and an AFP officer outside the Endeavour Hills police station on September 23, 2014.

ASIO partly to blame for radical teen 'snapping'
Police and forensic officers investigate the scene of a a shooting at Endeavor Hills Police Station in Melbourne, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014. Source: AAP

The Melbourne teen fatally shot by police after he stabbed two officers "snapped" because he was being cheated on, his passport had been cancelled and he was being hounded by law enforcement agencies, a friend has told an inquest.

Witness Ljindim Sulejmani also said Numan Haider, 18, was being beaten by his parents, an allegation a lawyer representing the family said they denied and had not had an opportunity to respond to.

The inquest heard the family didn't want their son spending time with Mr Sulejmani, who was several years older than Haider, unemployed and attended the controversial Al-Furqan mosque.

Mr Sulejmani said Haider's mother had told him: "stay away from my son", and spat on him during an encounter in 2014.

The inquest heard Haider's family feared the influence of people who were "slack, uneducated and unaware of their surroundings" on their son.

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The Victorian coroner is conducting an inquest into the death of Haider, who was killed by a shot to the head after he stabbed a Victoria Police officer and an Australian Federal Police officer outside the Endeavour Hills police station on September 23, 2014.

The coroner heard Mr Sulejmani had spent that day with Haider and was one of the last people to see him alive.

He told the inquest: "Regular bashings, his wife cheating on him, his passport being cancelled, ASIO, this contributed to why he snapped."

Mr Sulejmani said Haider was a "peaceful" person and described an incident in which Haider accidentally stabbed a friend in the hand with a knife as "funny".

"They were just mucking around," Mr Sulejmani told the inquest. 

He also said the woman Haider was married to had threatened to tell authorities he was planning to go to Syria to fight and that she had cheated on him.

Jinaali Vishni Surendran, 18, who had been in a relationship with Haider before his death, told the inquest she had participated in a formal ceremony with Haider indicating they intended to marry.

But they were legally nothing more than boyfriend and girlfriend, she said.

She burst into tears and said: "I can't believe that" when it was put to her there had been evidence she had cheated on Haider.

She said he had never suggested to her that his family was violent toward him.

The inquest continues.


3 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP



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