Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
More than a month after Abdul Nabizadah was killed it can now be revealed he may have been the victim of a robbery gone wrong.
A phone has been found near the crime scene that police say was used by an offender to meet Abdul Nabizadah.
Police believe it was at this meeting he was assaulted and robbed.
Five weeks on from his father's death, John Nabizadah struggles to sleep. He wakes up to four times a night, unable to get two burning thoughts out of his mind.
The first is why he lost his father, Abdul Nabizadah, and what happened to the 63-year-old before he was found critically injured in Camperdown Rd, Miramar at 2.20am on 17 March.
The second is his guilt that he wasn't there to help him.
"He was 63... he shouldn't be working at 12 o'clock at night... I should have helped him out. I should've been there more often for him," John Nabizadah said.
Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The police investigation into Abdul Nabizadah's death is ongoing.
Police earlier said they had established a link between the homicide and an aggravated burglary that occurred at a nearby Darlington Road address at about 2am, when a man was found by homeowners inside their house.
A 28-year-old man has been charged in relation to this burglary and is in custody to reappear on 27 June.
Police confirmed on Wednesday that a phone was located in the Darlington Rd scene after it was dropped by the alleged offender when confronted by the home owner.
A user of this phone had earlier been in contact with Abdul Nabizadah and arranged to meet with him in Camperdown Rd at 12.30am.
"It is believed that Mr Nabizadah was assaulted and robbed at this meeting and his black lanyard with five keys attached were stolen by the offender.
"These have not been located and it is possible the offender discarded them in the wider Camperdown Road area, perhaps in a garden, walkway or roadway, soon after the robbery," Detective Inspector Nick Pritchard said.
Police are asking anyone who has knowledge of the lanyard and keys, or has seen them, to make contact.
Police are asking anyone who has knowledge of the lanyard and keys, or has seen them, to make contact. Photo: NZ Police
The investigation identified an address close to the Camperdown Rd scene that several persons of interest to the investigation were visiting at the time of the two incidents.
"The people that frequent this address, including the persons of interest, and other visitors, have information critical to the investigation and we urge them to speak with us and tell us what they know so that we can provide answers and justice for the Nabizadah family," Pritchard said.
Earlier on Wednesday, RNZ revealed Abdul Nabizadah was the victim of a robbery.
John Nabizadah told RNZ he initially believed his father, who finished his shift at Taylor Preston's meat processing about midnight, may have picked someone up who was asking for a ride.
Then, about two weeks ago, police told the family they knew why he was in the area.
Police had established there had been contact between the victim and someone else who he had arranged to meet there. John Nabizadah was unable to say what it was his father was getting.
"I know he was there for some kind of reason, like, money wise, or whatever," he said.
"And he got, he got burgled. His pocket got emptied, which we didn't know, you know, he got, you know, money taken off," he said.
John Nabizadah said he'd asked police if his father knew the person he had been messaging.
"They said, 'We don't know, but more likely not... it's the first time they meet or something."
The family had not heard from police since.
Blood on the pavement on Camperdown Road. Photo: RNZ / REECE BAKER
'Dad, it's not the time you go'
John Nabizadah can vividly recall arriving at a construction site about 7am on 17 March to begin work. When he arrived, his brother-in-law told him that his father was missing.
His mother woke about two hours earlier to prepare food ahead of the day's fasting during Ramadan, but her husband was nowhere to be found.
The family's search grew steadily more urgent and they called friends and looked for his car in the streets near his work, wondering if he had slept in his car or had a crash.
They had told police he was missing, and then got a call from officers that he had been admitted to Wellington Hospital.
John Nabizadah was the first person to see him in ICU with cuts and bruises on his head. At first he thought he may have been in a car crash, and asked staff if the other party was okay.
He was told his father had brain damage, and the family was told to say their goodbyes.
There was nothing that could be done.
"We didn't know what we were doing," he said, recalling crying as he pleaded with the staff to save his father.
"I said 'he's breathing, his heart is beating like 118 by 80 or 70… you can't just say that'," he said.
"They said 'the brain injury is bigger than you think'."
John Nabizadah told his father as he lay in the hospital bed to "come back to us".
"We were all saying, 'Dad, it's not the time you go'... surely you're going to come back."
'A human person wouldn't do this'
John Nabizadah describes his father as a hard-working, kind man, who put his family above everything.
"He was so harmless."
The family was still in shock and searching for answers, he said.
He wants anyone with information about what happened to his father to contact police.
"We don't want that person to be walking around the street freely."
Whoever was responsible for his father's death was "not a human", he said.
"A human person wouldn't be doing this. Wouldn't leave another family with this much problem, losing their loved ones," John Nabizadah said.
Earlier this month, during the examination of the Camperdown Rd scene, police said officers found a woman's large size Mirrou brand zip-up jacket with white stripes on the arms.
It had been discarded on the walkway leading from Camperdown Rd to Nevay Rd. Police want to speak to the owner of this jacket to determine if it is connected in any way to the incidents of that night.
On Wednesday, police said they believe the jacket was worn by one of the people of interest in the investigation.
Photo: Supplied / NZ police
The investigation team have previously sought information about a silver Mazda 6 vehicle seen on several occasions in the Miramar area on the night of the incidents.
Following assistance from members of the public, the investigation team identified this vehicle and believe it is connected to the two incidents.
Police wanted to speak to the driver and occupants of this car on the night of the incidents and encouraged them to make contact with them.
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