St John's Craig Stockdale. Photo: STUFF / CHRIS SKELTON
An ambulance officer has broken down in tears describing trying to treat worshippers who needed surgeons, not paramedics, after being shot in the terror attack at Christchurch's Al Noor Mosque.
Craig Stockdale was one of the first St John ambulance officers at the mosque after the mass shooting on 15 March 2019.
He became emotional answering questions about potentially life-saving treatments for injured people in the Deans Avenue mosque, saying they would not be carried out in a mass casualty situation because of the skill and time involved.
"In my heart, I knew, what these people needed was a surgeon, not a paramedic on the periphery trying to help them," he said.
"They needed a hospital and we as a group, we knew that and that was our sole aim."
Stockdale said the mosque's hallway was "littered" with bodies and paramedics had to step over people to help those who had survived.
The Coroners Court earlier heard a senior policeman watching a delayed feed of the terrorist's livestream of the massacre relayed the information in error in a panicked transmission over police radio.
For a few minutes, police and paramedics at the scene thought the terrorist was returning to the mosque, but they soon realised it was a mistake.
It was one of the times where Stockdale felt the security situation at the scene changed.
Stockdale told the court police at the scene did not tell him the information was incorrect, which was "unsettling".
There was no debrief about the situation and they all "just ploughed on".
Just minutes later at 2.15pm, the first two St John paramedics entered the mosque with an armed police escort to assess the situation.
Soon after, injured survivors began being taken from the mosque, but Stockdale said he "absolutely" still believed the gunman may come back.
He said if he had been told it was a false alarm, it may have reduced his concern.
Christchurch's Al Noor Mosque. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Need for patients to get to hospital outweighed risk at Al Noor scene
Another St John ambulance officer who attended the scene at Al Noor Mosque said the clinical benefit of getting survivors to hospital quickly outweighed the risk involved.
The ambulance officer, who cannot be named, gave evidence on Wednesday afternoon.
He said it was an "unnerving environment" given the areas surrounding the scene where a gunman could be hiding.
He authorised a small team to go into the mosque and extricate those who had survived the massacre.
The decision to only allow six St John staff inside the mosque was made as he did not want to expose more crew than necessary to the risk of danger.
He had the "benefit of an experience and level-headed crew" who would understand how to work swiftly and make the difficult decisions they needed to order to avoid any unnecessary treatment, he said.
The officer explained he had emphasised the importance of a "load and go" approach with incoming ambulances so patients would get to hospital as quickly as possible.
He said he believed the response at the scene went well - and Stockdale's decision to declare it a mass casualty event helped get a significant number of resources to the scene.
He said there was a "strong sense of danger" throughout the response, but he believed the risk was manageable, or at least the clinical benefits for patients outweighed the risk.
"It was fortunate the risks did not eventuate," he said.
The inquest will examine the following 10 issues over six weeks:
- Events of 15 March 2019 from the commencement of the attack until the terrorist's formal interview by police
- Response times and entry processes of police and ambulance officers at each mosque
- Triage and medical response at each mosque
- The steps that were taken to apprehend the offender
- The role of, and processes undertaken by, Christchurch Hospital in responding to the attack
- Coordination between emergency services and first responders
- Whether the terrorist had any direct assistance from any other person on 15 March 2019
- If raised by immediate family, and to the extent it can be ascertained, the final movements and time of death for each of the deceased
- The cause of death for each of the victims and whether any deaths could have been avoided
- Whether Al Noor Mosque emergency exit door in the southeast corner of the main prayer room failed to function during the attack and, if so, why?
The inquest continues.
