Christchurch attack survivor says shooting ‘damaged him for life’

CHRISTCHURCH: A man shot three times in the terror attack on a mosque in New Zealand last year says the incident has left him physically and mentally damaged for life.
Sheikh Hasan Rubel, 35, was offering prayers at Al-Noor mosque in Christchurch on March 15 last year when the gunman burst in and started shooting.
Two bullets ripped through Rubel’s pelvis while another one went through his leg.
As New Zealand marks the one-year anniversary of the attack, Rubel said he is getting really anxious as the memories flood back.
“With March 15 approaching, it’s a really shaky feeling for me,” he told Reuters news agency.
“That (attack) has damaged me physically a little bit, but mostly it damaged my inside. Even now when I remember that moment, how scared I was, how helpless I was,” he said.
Rubel, an accountant, now uses a walking stick and needs additional surgery to repair his pelvis. He is undergoing counselling for mental trauma and also physiotherapy treatment.
“I still remember the feeling when I was getting shot by one after one bullet. At one point I was thinking that at any time I can get shot anywhere and I’ll be dead,” he said.
Rubel said that during the attack he was thinking of his wife and young daughters.
Now he lives in fear. “I get really afraid over small things. I think any incident can happen anytime.”
Rubel, who moved to New Zealand from Bangladesh in 2015, said he has faith in New Zealand’s justice systems and hopes the culprit is punished. It will be hard, however, to ever forgive his attacker, he said.
“I’m not going to say that I forgive ... it’s a big word to say,” he said.

Christchurch attack survivor says shooting ‘damaged him for life’