PM hints at changes after dairy stabbing

Amid disagreement on curbing retail crime, one Indian community group is demanding nationwide protests, writes James Halpin.

The death of dairy worker Janak Patel, who was fatally stabbed in Auckland, could prompt a nationwide protest against serious and violent retail crime.

The 34-year-old was killed on Wednesday night after the Sandringham dairy he was working in, the Rose Cottage Superette, was robbed.

Police announced they had caught the alleged killer and an associate on Friday night. A 34-year-old appeared in the Auckland District Court charged with murder yesterday. A second man, charged with robbery, will appear in court tomorrow.

Last night more than a hundred people turned out for a candlelight vigil for Patel. A waiata was sung and residents laid more flowers in front of the dairy along with lighting candles on the ground. A sign placed outside the dairy read ‘‘justice for Janak’’.

One resident who lived on the same street as the dairy told the crowd he was ‘‘devastated and deeply hurt’’ by what had happened.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday visited Sandringham, which is in her Mt Albert electorate, and spoke to Patel’s family, after she was earlier criticised for not having done so.

At a media conference she defended her Government’s record on crime and said that for police and the justice system ‘‘we are looking to add tools, not take them away’’.

The PM said her Government is going to re-look at the additional changes to the retail crime support packages that fund bollards and fog cannons.

Ardern has been criticised heavily over the Government’s response to retail violence.

Sunny Kaushal, president of the Dairy and Business Owners Group, who is also a National Party member, said Patel’s death happened because a culture of impunity for offenders exists. ‘‘This kind of tragedy could have been avoided if they had listened to us.’’

Kaushal said he wasn’t divisive or arguing anything new from the death and his tough-on-crime message had been consistent over years. ‘‘I’m simply calling a spade a spade.

‘‘We don’t need empathy, we need action . . . We are not seeing the empathy at all.’’

Anu Kaloti, president of the Migrant Workers Association, said the kind of tough-on-crime message Kaushal espoused didn’t work. ‘‘I see what Sunny is asking for, and it would be just putting a bandaid over it [crime].’’

Kaloti said it would have been just as tragic had one of the owner’s family been killed, but it was equally sad that a worker had been killed, and that should be the focus. ‘‘Just by being tough on crime alone is not going to stop it [offending].

‘‘People would never offend if it [tough-on-crime measures] was an effective mechanism,’’ Kaloti said.

Like Kaushal, Kaloti said the

Government needed to respond to the killing, but said instead the response should be focused around the wider set of complex issues that drive crime. Kaloti said a better question would be asking what was attracting thieves to dairies, and what could be done to prevent them being so attractive to thieves and protect workers. ‘‘That should be at the forefront of a review that takes place,’’ she said.

The NZ Indian Central Association, which says it is the umbrella organisation for all community groups in NZ, has demanded a nationwide day of protest following the funeral.

‘‘We want thousands of people regardless of their age or nationality to attend Patel’s funeral and block roads everywhere to show solidarity,’’ a widely circulated text read.

As of Friday evening, police said the body remains with the Coroner.

‘‘We want thousands of people regardless of their age or nationality to attend Patel’s funeral and block roads everywhere to show solidarity.’’

Widely circulated text message