A MAN with strong family connections to Bolton was one of the 50 people gunned down in New Zealand last week.

Musa Vali Suleman Patel, aged 60, was praying at the Linwood Mosque in Christchurch when he was shot in the back.

His Bolton cousin Suleman Luwarawala, known as Sabir, attended a  service in Victoria Square on Saturday with his wife Bibi, to honour the man he thought of as a brother.

The vigil was organised to remember all those killed in the mosque shootings.

Still in shock and trying to come to terms with the news, the 67-year-old was one of hundreds who took part in the act of remembrance. He said Mr Patel and his wife had only just moved to New Zealand where they intended to see out their retirement with their children who live in Australia and New Zealand. Mr Patel had spent his working life in Fiji.

Sabir, who lives in Halliwell, had organised a special service at Halliwell mosque for his cousin.

Mr Patel had been invited to the Linwood Mosque to give a talk in his position as an iman, a Muslim priest. Sabir said: “The gunman came from behind and my cousin was shot in the back on the left side. His wife was with him and she came in when she heard the shot and went immediately to him. He was still alive when his wife when to see him and she was holding him and she was crying and shouting. When the police came, they asked those who were not injured to leave so they could attend to the injured. That was the last time she saw him.”

Following the shooting, the family in Bolton and in India were closely following New Zealand media, until the devastating news was broken to them on Friday that Mr Patel had been killed in the attack.

“His son told me,” he said, “They didn’t know whether he was alive or dead, because he was alive when his wife saw him.”

“We are very upset,” said Sabir, who came to Bolton in 1968, while his cousin emigrated to Fiji in 1982. He had visited Bolton 1996 when he stayed with Sabir’s family for a holiday.

Sabir said: “He was a very good person, he was a gentle giant, a big fellow but a gentle giant.

“I call him my brother because we have grown-up together from childhood.

“He left Fiji to join his family, because he has three grown-up children in Australia and two in New Zealand and was retiring. New Zealand has a large Fijian community and they invited him to come over and join them.

“He left Fiji on February 23 and had only been there for three weeks.”

Sabir had hoped to fly to New Zealand for the funeral, but the closure of the airport and the Islamic practice of burial as soon as possible meant he could not get there in time.

His cousin was buried in Oakland, where his daughters live.

“About 7,000 people who attended his funeral, and the funeral was broadcast live by Fijian media and we saw it live on television, “ said Sabir. “We can’t believe it. He chose New Zealand because he believed New Zealand was the safest place in the world.”

He added: “We are planning to go to see his wife she is very upset.”

Sabir said: “We are planning to go to see his wife, she is very upset.”