Dunedin stabbing: Supermarket staff return to scene of attack for blessing
12 May, 2021 01:16 AM
3 minutes to read
footage of the site blessing at Dunedin Countdown. Video / NZME
Otago Daily Times
Staff have gathered at the Countdown supermarket for a blessing following the devastating knife attack on Monday.
A large group gathered at the Countdown Dunedin Central site blessing just after 11am with several police officers also in attendance.
They paused briefly outside - some people bowing their heads - before walking slowly into the building.
This is the first time they have entered the Cumberland St supermarket; which has been closed since the attack that left four people injured.
Staff stand outside the car park at Dunedin Central Countdown on Wednesday. The police forensic examination, which was largely focused near the supermarket s pharmacy, concluded on Tuesday night. Police tape preventing access to the car park was removed on Wednesday morning. The car park remained off limits to media as a large of number of staff gathered outside the store on Wednesday morning. Countdown did not give a specific opening time.
Stuff
A blessing was held for about 50 staff. Senior police also attended. “Our focus now is on helping make sure our team’s return to the store is as peaceful and as healing as it can be, and we would ask both the public and the media to respect our team’s privacy as they do this,” spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin said.
First published on
Staff have gathered at the central Dunedin Countdown supermarket for a blessing following the devastating knife attack on Monday.
Staff attended a blessing at the central Dunedin Countdown.
Photo: ODT / Gerard O Brien
A large group of staff gathered for the building s blessing just after 11am with several police officers also in attendance.
This is the first time they have entered the Cumberland St supermarket which has been closed since the attack which left four people injured.
In an update this morning, the Southern District Health Board said the conditions of the patients remained the same, three were in a serious but stable condition, and one was in a moderate condition.
• Source: 1 NEWS
Police say they have found a number of knives as the investigation into the Dunedin Countdown stabbings continues.
Your playlist will load after this ad Officers investigating the incident were still calling for witnesses to come forward as they tried to piece together what happened before and during the attack. Source: 1 NEWS
The knives were found amongst blood samples that were taken and also things that were discarded at the scene, 1 NEWS reporter Lisa Davies says.
Police are still calling for witnesses to come forward try to piece together what happened in the lead up to and during the stabbing spree.
Sam Sherwood and Hamish McNeilly05:00, May 13 2021
Kavinda Herath/Stuff
ED clinical director Dr Richard Stephenson, Superintendent Paul Basham and nursing lead Janet Andrews at a media briefing on Tuesday about the stabbing incident at central Dunedin Countdown.
The brother of a prison guard stabbed in the neck during a rampage at a Dunedin supermarket wants to thank the “hero” who saved his life. A Corrections Officer at Otago Corrections Facility and his wife, believed to be a Customs employee, were among four people who received serious knife wounds during the attack at Countdown Dunedin Central on Monday afternoon. It is believed the man was stabbed in the neck, while his wife was stabbed in the back.