LynnMall attacker believed Muslims were being harmed and cornered, inquest hears

The former mentor of the man stabbed six people at an Auckland supermarket has spoken about his radical ideas of Islam.

Ahamed Samsudeen was shot 12 times by police, ending the attack.

The coroner heard from a man who supported Samsudeen when he first arrived in New Zealand 2011. He cannot be named

Authorities first arrested Samsudeen in 2017 at Auckland Airport, with the Security Intelligence Service believing he was travelling to Syria to join Islamic State/ISIS fighters there.

He denied charges against him throughout his remand in prison, suggesting he was persuaded into posting extremist content on social media by a man who befriended him.

"He always kept saying, 'I didn't do anything, I didn't do anything,'" he said.

"I always advise him to be patient, do your daily prayers and ask Allah the almighty that you can be released, just go with the flow, don't be aggressive.

"He tried to blame the authorities, 'They don't know, they're wrong,' these kind of things, so I tried to tell him to be patient."

He said Samsudeen was expressing radical ideas of Islam.

"He would always try to blame us, like me, 'What you're talking is basic, what you're doing and practising is basic, it's not enough.'"

His mentor said Samsudeen believed Muslims around the world were being cornered and harmed, and that he needed to do something about it.

Samsudeen was bailed to a mosque in 2018, where his mentor encouraged him to engage in positive sermons and messages from the Quran.

"We told him just be part of it, we thought that... he could change."

Samsudeen thought that too was basic.

"The talk was not enough for him."

Questioned by police counsel Sarah Murphy, the man said Samsudeen was stubborn and resistant to change.

The inquest continues.