A Christchurch woman who helped victims of the mosque attacks has been declined help by ACC.
Jill Keats was driving past the Deans Avenue mosque when gunfire rang out and she rushed to help a wounded man.
- 'The poor guy passed away': Witness describes distressing chaos of Christchurch shooting scene
- Christchurch terror attack witness describes trauma one week on
- Are onions dangerous? 3000 ACC claims since 2013
She says she no longer feels healthy enough to work her usual job as an Uber driver and her doctor says this is because she is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"I'll be just somewhere and all of a sudden I'll start crying and then... a few times I've smelled the cordite, and there's been no reason for it and I'm dreading Guy Fawkes," Keats told The AM Show.
"I shake a lot now, It's like I've got Parkinson's and I don't know why."
However, despite support from her doctor, her application for help from ACC has been declined - something Keats says is shocking.
"I was shot at, but because I wasn't actually physically wounded I'm not covered. In saying that, I'm not the only one, the young guy that I helped save, well he's in the same boat.
"The public are the first on the scene. When the police did turn up they were fully kitted out in battle armour and yet the rest of us who were trying to help were on the ground with no protection, nothing."
Keats' heroics have also gone unnoticed by the Government and she says the lack of a simple thank you has been hard to take.
"I don't want to be a hero, I don't want any awards but I would have just liked somebody to say thanks."
"Everyone else has lined up, shook Prince William's hand and to those of us who were actually, physically there - it's like a double assault."
Keats also wants to know why she hasn't been asked to give evidence to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the mosque attacks as she believes her account would be useful.
"My brother had to ring the Commissioner and ask why I haven't been interviewed, why aren't I a witness?"
Jill Keats' message to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
"Jacinda, It would have been nice to be thanked. Not once in the nine weeks have I been approached by council, police, anybody, to say 'Jill, you did a good job'.
"I don't want to be a hero, I don't want any awards but I would have just liked somebody to say thanks.
"The only person that has was the young guy I helped save, his name is Abbas and I have become friends with him and his wife.
"They're ever so grateful for what I did for them and that, in itself, has been healing and I can't say enough about them."
Newshub.
