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SUPPLIED / Stuff
Police are investigating a ‘disorder incident’ in the Auckland CBD in the early hours of Saturday morning that hospitalized several people. One member of the group, in the photo, suffered a black eye that is “sealed.”
A mother whose son and other family members were injured in a violent “ambush” in Auckland’s financial district pleads with passersby to come forward.
A group of 13 family and friends were celebrating their 50th birthday at a karaoke bar in central Auckland when they were allegedly attacked, “caught from behind” by a group wielding hammers and bottles, around 1.40am on Saturday.
Melinda Morris’s 28-year-old son was left unconscious and “bruised and beaten” with a swollen black eye and five men were hospitalized after the incident, he said.
Morris said the family was “taken aback” by the “chaotic” incident, in which more than one person was knocked unconscious, and asked that witnesses to the attack, outside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Wyndham St, share images with police. .
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Other people in the group suffered fractures; one now uses crutches and another has a broken nose, he said.
The family’s 75-year-old grandmother also fell to the ground and scraped the skin on her knee and elbow.
“It’s a really horrible situation,” said Morris, who was not with the group at the time.
The group had had a great night up to that point, and said the incident “really took the wind out of the sails.”
GOOGLE MAPS / Things
The “unprovoked attack” occurred near St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Wyndham St.
Morris said police had been slow to contact the family to obtain statements from those involved or to update them on the investigation.
He called for more action and questioned whether “we have so few resources that the victims of these crimes do not receive any support.”
Morris said there were several bystanders filming the incident and some who stopped while driving to help.
She pleaded “that anyone who saw something” share it with the police and wanted her experience to be a warning to others.
Police said an investigation was underway into the “disorder” incident and that officers were pursuing “a number of lines of investigation.”
Alden Williams / Stuff
Police asked anyone with information about the incident to contact number 105. (stock photo)
Police spoke with several witnesses at the scene as part of their preliminary investigations and an examination of the scene was completed, a spokesperson said.
“Various evidence” had been collected and would be sent for forensic examination, they said.
Officers were also exploring whether CCTV footage of the incident is available.
The victims, who have now been discharged from the hospital, will be spoken to as part of the ongoing investigation, they said.
“We will also be in contact with family members who have been in contact with the police to update them on our progress.”
The spokesperson asked anyone with information about the incident to contact police at 105 and cite file number 210320/9688.
