By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A POLICE officer has told a coronial inquest she was disturbed by teenager Numan Haider’s “intimidating” behaviour in Dandenong Plaza, five days before he was fatally shot by police at Endeavour Hills police station in 2014.
Acting Sergeant Ellane Clarke, who was supervising police recruits in the plaza on 18 September 2014, encountered Haider waving a black, apparently Islamic flag and yelling in an unknown language.
The officer stated before State Coroner John Olle on 10 March that Haider, with up to six people walking with him, was yelling at people and appearing to incite fear.
“His face showed a lot of contempt towards us in a smug way.”
When two inexperienced recruits approached Haider, Acting Sgt Clarke intervened. A male accompanying Haider moved up close to her, claiming the group had a “right to be here”.
Haider refused to identify the flag, suggesting the officer “Google it”.
The teen got increasingly agitated and aggressive, the officer stated.
“I’m not going to blow up the shopping centre today,” he told her several times.
“I’ve got nothing against you personally. It’s against your government and Australia.”
In apparent reference to police anti-terror raids that day, Haider said: “You will pay for what happened in Sydney and Brisbane today”.
The “extremist” Haider was moved on, Acting Sgt Clarke stated.
“I was really disturbed from the first time I saw Haider and the unusual way that he was behaving.
“He spoke in a passionate and intimidating fashion and I felt like he was a high risk to the public.”
On 23 September, Haider was shot to the head after stabbing two police officers in Endeavour Hills Police Station car park.
In preceding days, he had posted photos of himself in a balaclava, camouflage gear and holding a black Islamic banner.
The day before the shooting, Haider’s family described the teen as “upset” when his passport was cancelled by authorities.
On his final day, he was further agitated when police officers searched his bedroom while he was out, the court heard.
His friend Lindim Sulejmani, 27, met Haider in a Hungry Jacks car park, less than an hour before the fatal encounter.
He told the court that he had told Haider he’d brought police interest upon himself with his Facebook posts.
“During that time Numan and I were just talking normally.
“We were discussing ordinary things about what we were doing the next day.”
Mr Sulejmani described himself as attending Al-Furqan Islamic Centre but not as a regular.
Haider’s father told the court earlier that he and his son had been warned by ASIO officers that he should stay away from Al-Furqan.
