TOP STORY: Flaxmere machete attack stuns street

TANIA McCAULEY
Residents of Flaxmere's Baker Street are struggling to come to terms with a violent attack on two Vietnamese men living on their street.
One resident, who did not wish to be named, said he was alerted by a man being chased from a back flat about 3pm yesterday.
"I heard some noises, but I thought it was just a bunch of kids running around out there," he said.
The man appeared to have tried to get help from at least two neighbouring houses, and tripped while he was being chased by men holding weapons. One appeared to hit him with a machete, making a gash about 10cm long and 3cm wide on the back of his head.
The resident thought there were at least eight men, who looked to be Asian, involved in the assault and armed with machetes, secateurs, and meat cleavers.
When another resident called out to them that he would call police, the assailants got back into their car and drove away.
"He was bleeding, he had a hole in his head. I took my shirt off and held it to his head and told him to put pressure on it," the man said. The victim told him his friend had also been hurt and was in the flat.
Another resident said she had contacted Victim Support to come and speak to residents, especially children, some of whom had witnessed the aftermath of the attack.
Some of the residents, including children, had had a sleepless night after the event, including her young son who was too frightened to go to the toilet on his own.
Her older son, who had yelled at the attackers that he was calling the cops, "still can't get the sound of that crunch out of his head", she said, describing the sound of a machete hitting one victim's head.
"It was a good street," she said. Nothing like this had happened before, which made it all the worse.
The Vietnamese men had not lived there for very long, she said.
The victims were taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital. One has serious head injuries, the other has a compound leg fracture. Both are in a stable condition.
A Hastings police spokesman said a meat cleaver, machete and iron bars were among the weapons used.
Police were still investigating the incident and no arrests had yet been made.
Detective Senior Sergeant Sam Aberahama said a number of weapons had been recovered, as had two vehicles used by the assailants, who police believed were also Vietnamese.
"I am appealing for these men to come forward," he said