A former Mount Maunganui woman viciously bashed outside Bayfair Shopping Centre says she will never move home to the Bay.
Olivia Massey, 27, was with her partner, Hamish Fraser, and two friends from Perth when they got off a bus at Bayfair early Sunday morning.
Miss Massey and her partner live in Australia but were in town for a wedding at Pyes Pa. Buses were hired to help take people home.
The group booked a taxi to meet them at the bus stop outside the main entrance to Bayfair but it was not there when they arrived. While trying to arrange another taxi, two women appeared from the carpark, Miss Massey said.
"They thought we had said something about them but all we were saying was: 'Where is the bloody taxi?"'
The confrontation became heated.
"We were saying: 'We are just waiting for a taxi, leave us alone'."
Miss Massey alleges the two women pulled bottles from their jacket pockets and smashed them over her partner and male friend's heads.
"We saw a taxi and tried to run ... they ran after me. I didn't even hear them coming. They, both with their hands in my hair, dragged me to the ground.
"It just felt like it was going forever."
The men pulled the girls off Miss Massey and the group ran for the taxi they had managed to wave down.
"I just remember running to it, holding my head," Miss Massey said.
"One of them chased after the taxi and actually got her hand in one of the taxi windows. They were just animals."
Another taxi had arrived in the middle of the fight but quickly left.
Now staying in Hawkes Bay with her family, Miss Massey is recovering from multiple grazes to her face and body, a damaged scalp, missing patches of hair and skinned knees. Her partner has a large black eye and suspected hematoma on his arm. The group were all battered and bruised, Miss Massey said.
"It was horrible, absolutely horrible. I've never been in that situation before.
"There were four of us. We thought it was safe."
Miss Massey suspected the attackers were on drugs.
"They were so wired. The look in their eyes was just pure insanity."
Miss Massey said she noticed a man pacing back and forth nearby and wondered if he had "tasked" the girls to attack.
"It was so vicious."
Miss Massey had lived at Mount Maunganui before moving to Melbourne.
"Oh God, I'm never moving back here. Maybe in 10 years down the track or something but I just completely feel that I'm not coming back to New Zealand really.
"It was such a horrific end to a really nice night."
Miss Massey's bag, iPhone, money and shoes were left behind at the scene but not taken. This confirmed to her the attack was a random act of violence.
Miss Massey's mother, Prue Monteith, said it was no wonder so many people left New Zealand for overseas.
"I am disgusted and I want people to know what happens. It is not until something like this happens to one of your children that you realise how seriously screwed up our country and social structure is," Ms Monteith said.
"Where are their parents? That's what annoys me. Why are those kids allowed to do this?"
Western Bay of Plenty police Inspector Karl Wright-St Clair said alcohol was a significant contributing factor in the incident.
"Police treated this incident very seriously, responded quickly and made early arrests at the scene," Mr Wright-St Clair said. "The officers who attended were also allegedly assaulted by one of these woman."
Mr Wright-St Clair said if anyone found themselves in a similar situation, they should remain calm and ring police on 111 as soon as possible or raise the alarm with anyone who could contact police.
"It appears the victims in this case have done everything they could to avoid the situation and . . . the incident was unprovoked," he said.
A 25-year-old Tauranga woman faces two counts of assaulting police, two counts of assault with a weapon and a charge of assault.
A 21-year-old woman, also from Tauranga, is charged with assault.
Both women are due to appear in Tauranga District Court on Friday.
