SCHOOLBOY ATTACKED WITH METAL POLE ON AUCKLAND BUS

• A woman used a metal rod to attack a 16-year-old boy on an Auckland bus.
• The victim lost three teeth and had two more damaged in the attack, which involved the woman yelling racial slurs.
• Police are investigating the incident.

A 16-year-old boy schoolboy has been left with facial injuries after a brutal attack by a woman with a steel rod on an Auckland bus.

Only one person intervened in the racially motivated attack about 9am on Friday that resulted in the boy having three teeth knocked out and a further two teeth damaged.

“I was taking the bus to Panmure, and just past Pakuranga Plaza, a woman started verbally abusing me and then immediately started to physically abuse me,” the schoolboy, who asked not to be named, told the Herald.

The woman started yelling racial slurs at the Chinese-New Zealand boy before attacking him with a metal rod, unprovoked.

“I was just listening to music, scrolling my phone, and then it happened.

“She just stood up and hit me.”

The schoolboy has lived in New Zealand for seven years, almost half his life, and said this was the first time he had experienced a racially motivated attack.

“I completely lost three [teeth] and I’ve broken two.”

“I can’t repair them right now ... I have to wait for the wound to heal.”

He felt “embarrassed” following the attack because he would probably have to wear fake teeth until he turned 18.

Although there were more than 10 people on the bus, only one person intervened in the attack.

“A 75-year-old gentleman at the back helped me to control the woman and get in the middle of her.”

The woman jumped off the bus at the Williams Ave bus stop in Pakuranga and ran away.

“We shouted at the driver, don’t open the door, but he opened the door and she ran away.”

He thought the woman was in her 40s, with a large build and dressed in all black.

“I feel a bit fearful, this time it was a stick, next time who knows what’s going to happen, maybe a knife?” he said.

The boy hoped sharing his story would encourage people to intervene if they saw someone being assaulted.

“Be careful on the bus, protect yourself, and hopefully, when it happens around them and people can stand up and help.”

He didn’t think the woman had been found yet, and police confirmed they were continuing to look into the matter.

Police confirmed they were investigating an assault on a bus in the Panmure area on June 28.

“At about 9.15am the victim was on a bus heading from Howick towards Auckland City.

“A woman has then got on the bus before assaulting the victim with an object,” a police spokesperson said.

The victim suffered serious injuries and the offender got off the bus before police arrived, a police spokesperson said.

A Hato Hone St John spokesperson said an ambulance attended the scene and helped organise a dentist for the patient.

Data from Auckland Transport shows attacks on bus drivers have more than doubled in the past two years.

While 24 fewer incidents overall were reported last year than in 2022, there were more reports of violence against bus drivers than in the previous year.

If anyone witnessed the incident they can contact police on 105 and quote file number 240628/8342, or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.

2024-06-30T22:31:51Z dg43tfdfdgfd