Guilty pleas a relief for stab victim

Wednesday, June 06, 2012
JO MCKENZIE-MCLEAN AND DAVID CLARKSON

RAMPAGE: Picture of Zakariye Mohammed Hussein taken by a bystander from inside his car.

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The woman who was stabbed and taken on a violent rampage across Christchurch is relieved her attacker pleaded guilty.

Name suppression was lifted on Zakariye Mohammed Hussein, 27, when he appeared unexpectedly before Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish yesterday. He had been scheduled to appear for a trial committal on June 22.

Hussein yesterday pleaded guilty to five charges after police withdrew an allegation of attempted murder of the city council worker he kidnapped.

Hussein admitted charges of unlawful possession of a weapon, a knife, at Redwood School and in Hoon Hay Rd, kidnapping a council worker and a woman, wounding the council worker with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and injuring the woman with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Marteine Robin, 36, was delivering pies to Redwood School on March 15 when a knife-wielding Hussein jumped into her van and forced her to drive towards Halswell before stabbing her in the shoulder.

When the pair had stopped at a set of lights in Hoon Hay, Hussein got out and repeatedly stabbed the council worker in a council car waiting at the lights.

Robin said outside court that the guilty plea was "good news" as it meant she would not have to go through a trial.

"Now I won't have to go to court and face him at trial. It also saves the taxpayers money having to put some a....... through court."

She said Hussein's family had tried to arrange a meeting with her but she had declined the offer.

"That would be more for them than me."

While Robin had been "OK" since the attack, she still had flashback moments and times of paranoia when she "saw someone who looks dodgy".

Hussein's original court appearance was on March 20 at Christchurch Hospital, where he was recovering after being shot twice by police to end his rampage.

He has been remanded for psychiatric reports since his arrest and was found fit to plead.

Judge Farish yesterday remanded him in custody for a pre-sentence report, victim-impact reports, a further psychiatric report and sentencing on September 20.

A Somali community spokesperson earlier told The Press that Hussein was born in Somalia and grew up in a refugee camp.

He arrived in New Zealand in the early 2000s and came from a successful family. Three of his siblings are Otago University graduates.

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