Mosque volunteer unaware new door lock installed two days before terror attack

Monday, 20 May 2024

With a terrorist standing in the middle of the Al Noor mosque’s main prayer room, an emergency door in the south-east corner represented the only chance of escape for some.

But as worshippers piled up against it, the door wouldn’t open and potentially led to 11 of them being shot and killed during their futile attempts to flee.

Whether an electromagnetic lock installed on the door just two days prior to the Christchurch terror attacks caused the jam, or if its older “fiddly” mechanical lock was responsible, has been explored at the resumption of the first phase coronial inquest into the attacks on Monday.

It’s also possible that both locks contributed. On Tuesday, deputy chief coroner Brigitte Windley is expected to hear from more members of the community who were familiar with the door, in the hopes of determining what went wrong with it when it mattered.

Khaled Alnobani was inside the Masjid An-Nur’s main prayer room when the shooting began about 1.40pm on March 15, 2019.

He escaped through the broken glass panel at the bottom of the door, known as door D. His brief of evidence was read to the court on Monday.

While outside, he saw a little boy being accidentally trampled over amidst the panic.

“I picked him up, held him to my chest and covered his eyes so he couldn’t see,” his statement said.

He then rushed back to the door and helped to pull at least three people through the small gap where the glass had been broken.

“I tried to pull my friend and neighbour Khaled Mustafa, but he was shot before I could get him out.”

After making his way to the street outside the front of the mosque, Alnobani and others were shot at by the terrorist as the gunman exited the front door, the coroner heard.

The survivor took who he thought were the first two victims to arrive at Christchurch Hospital.

“I do not blame anyone for the door not opening, in my opinion there are more important issues for the court than this”, his statement said.

Alnobani was a volunteer at the mosque and was familiar with how the door worked. It had to be pulled back and unlocked before it could be pushed open, the court heard.

“During the attack, everyone was crowding to get out of the exit and pushing the door. I said ‘why are you doing that, just turn the lock and open the door.’ I tried myself and realised it didn’t work, it wouldn’t open. There were so many people crowding, it was too hard to pull it back and turn the lock at the same time.”

He wasn’t aware a new electromagnetic lock system had been installed on the door just two days prior to the attack, according to his statement.

Building project manager Lyndon Moffitt was contacted by police to do repair works on the mosque five days after the shooting.

He described having difficulty opening the door while inside the mosque. Moffitt said he first tried pushing the button on the wall for the electromagnetic lock to release the door, but that didn’t work.

Its mechanical lock eventually released after he’d played with it and wiggled the door back and forth. The door then opened.

“It was fiddly, put it that way. Once I got it, it was fine. But I struggled with it for about 15 seconds.”

During cross examination from counsel for some families Nigel Hampton KC, Moffitt agreed the difficulty he had with unlocking the door would’ve caused confusion and delay as people tried to escape five days prior.

“We all know there was a huge panic to get out that door.”

He agreed that the panic and pushing could have prevented the lock’s knob from turning and unlocking the door.

Moffitt did not believe the lock was satisfactory for an emergency door.

The inquest continues.