Children attacked in Christchurch park; mom asks the council to install CCTV

A Christchurch mother is calling for CCTV cameras to be urgently installed in a park in the east of the city after her 12-year-old son and 13-year-old friend were brutally attacked.

Emma Duggan said her son and his friend were at Thomson Park in New Brighton on Sunday afternoon for a bike ride.

They had stopped for a drink before a group of six young men who were near the skatepark approached the couple and one of them began to attack the 13-year-old boy.

Duggan said he was repeatedly hit on the head, around the eyes, shoulders and stomach.

The attack was unprovoked.

She said her son tried to intervene, but another member of the group hit him on the head at least three times and broke his bicycle helmet.

“Later that night we received a call that his friend was in the hospital due to a concussion and, as the doctor has quoted, amnesia trauma,” Duggan said.

Her son initially lost some of his vision, which was returning, but he still had headaches.

He said he was initially in shock when he found out what had happened, but now wanted to find the attackers so he could talk to his parents.

Duggan and the other mother had filed separate police reports, although Duggan had yet to hear from the local police.

A couple of witnesses had come forward, he said.

But she was furious because there was little security in the park.

“The only security there is is a gate to close the parking lot. There are no cameras of any kind, I even went down to check,” he said.

Duggan called on the Christchurch City Council, which controls the park, to urgently install CCTV cameras, especially around the parking lot, the toilet block and the skate park where the assault took place.

“I think it’s absolutely disgusting that there are no cameras there – if there were cameras there we could have done it a lot faster,” he said.

“I would feel more secure knowing that there are cameras there.”

Christchurch City Council Community Park Manager Al Hardy said the council was aware of the assault.

When asked what security arrangements were in place at Thomson Park, Hardy said a council security contractor performed a security sweep by closing and unlocking the park gate.

“This is in line with other parks in the city,” he said.

Hardy said the council did not envisage CCTV cameras in the parks, but that improving safety was “carefully considered” when parts of the park were upgraded.

“The council will work closely with law enforcement to minimize this type of behavior in the park.”

Meanwhile, police said they received a report Monday morning that two young men had been assaulted by a group of other teenagers in the middle of Sunday afternoon.

“One child received minor injuries to the back of the head, and the other received more serious injuries and was taken to the hospital … there were no weapons involved,” said a police spokesman.

The police were evaluating the information received and were “conducting initial investigations.”

The spokesperson said that any decision on an increase in CCTV was for the relevant local authorities to make.