An absconding psychiatric patient who murdered a woman metres from her Christchurch home earlier this year had also kidnapped and stabbed a pie delivery driver a decade ago, the Herald can reveal.

Zakariye Mohamed Hussein, 37, this morning pleaded guilty to murdering Christchurch mother of four Laisa Tunidau on June 25 this year.

Tunidau, 52, had caught a bus home from work and was walking just metres from her family home when Hussein, who had caught a bus from Hillmorton Hospital, attacked her with a steak knife, stabbing her to death.

Hussein has also admitted stabbing a Hillmorton nurse with a pen in an attack last December.

 

Laisa Tunidau was fatally stabbed in Christchurch on June 25, 2022. Photo / NZME

And for the first time today, as his interim name suppression lapsed, Hussein's shocking history of "serious, unprovoked, gratuitous and random" violence that led to prison sentences and ongoing stays at a psychiatric ward can be revealed for the first time.

It includes Hussein's 2012 frenzied knife-wielding spree during which he claims he was "possessed by the devil", kidnapping then 36-year-old pie delivery driver Marteine Robin at knifepoint and then almost fatally stabbing a city council worker in a rampage across Christchurch.

A member of the public photographed Zakariye Hussein during his frightening knife rampage across Christchurch in 2012.

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Today, Robin was devastated that Hussein, who was jailed for six-and-a-half years for the 2012 attack which only ended when a police officer shot him twice at close range with a Glock pistol, was allowed to offend again.

"It pretty much sounds like exactly the same scenario as when he jumped into my truck 10 years ago. He got pissy at his family, took two knives, and decided he was going hunting for somebody to hurt," Robin told the Herald after Hussein pleaded guilty this morning.

"This makes me extremely angry. He should've been in jail for 17 years – not in Hillmorton – in fricking jail.

"If he'd been in jail, in actual prison, that lady would still be alive."

Robin always feared Hussein – who poured a hot cup of black coffee over the head of a Hillmorton Hospital nurse in 2018 - could strike again.

Police examine the scene on Hoon Hay Rd after Zakariye Hussein's 2012 rampage across Christchurch. Photo / File

She never believed he was remorseful or capable of rehabilitation.

"He didn't give a s*** who he hurt when he took me and what he did to the council worker," Robin said.

"So, I expected it. If he ever got out, he was going to do it again."

The first time Hussein, a refugee from Somalia living in Christchurch, came to the attention of authorities was in dramatic, deeply-concerning fashion.

About 7am on March 15, 2012, he was disturbed in the grounds of Redwood School by caretaker Noel Batstone.

Hussein chased Batstone and a teacher, who barricaded themselves inside a classroom and phoned police.

He then hijacked Robin's pie delivery van and ordered her to drive off.

She told him to "get the **** out" of her delivery truck, but he forced her at knifepoint to drive him across Christchurch, and then stabbing her in the shoulder.

"I feared the worst. I thought I was going to die," she told the Herald that day.

Zakariye Mohamed Hussein, 37, at the High Court in Christchurch on Friday. Photo / Anna Leask

Robin eventually managed to escape when Hussein was distracted at a traffic jam almost one hour later.

But the drama only escalated when Hussein left the truck near the busy intersection of Hoon Hay and Halswell Rds and then almost fatally stabbed a 55-year-old city council worker, who has name suppression.

City construction worker Jade Lynn, 22, saw the attacker rampaging between vehicles and approached him with a crowbar, striking him in the neck, and herding him away from other members of the public.

Eyewitnesses described Lynn as a "hero" who prevented Hussein from attacking other bystanders.

Hussein was only stopped when pepper sprayed, Tasered and then shot twice by a police officer in his shoulder and wrist.

When he was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail, Judge David Saunders told him his attacks terrified a number of innocent people who have suffered ongoing "physical and emotional harm".

Robin hopes that Hussein will never be allowed back out into the community.

And she questions why he wasn't sent back to prison for a long period after two earlier attacks on nurses.

"No family deserves to go through the trauma of having their loved one hurt in that way – ever," Robin said.

"The system needs an overhaul. It's not good enough and something has to be done."