Dad's plea: Find the thugs who bashed my girl

A father is pleading for the attackers of his teenage daughter to be exposed after she was viciously beaten before a Masterton crowd while armed men kept rescuers at bay.
Two Masterton people have been arrested in connection with the incident at the Masterton drag races on December 29, but other people are believed to be involved and police inquiries into the matter are continuing.
The father of the victim, 15, wished to remain anonymous to protect his daughter's identity and his profession, which he believes sparked the attack.
"This was a gutless, cowardly attack on a defenceless 15-year-old. It's just disgusting," he said. "She was punched and dragged by her hair for 10m while one of two males with the group held a rock and kept her friends from going to help her.
"She thought she was going to die."
There were around 50 people in the area when she was attacked and her father "can't understand why nobody did anything".
His daughter received bruising to her whole body after she was kicked and punched "while she lay curled in a ball on the ground covering her face", he said.
His daughter had gone to the drags with friends, who were dropped off by an adult in the early evening on Saturday.
Shortly before she went to head home, a female, who was not known to her, came and sat in the vacant driver's seat of the car she was sitting in.
"They said her name and asked if that was who she was and when she asked them why, she was struck in the back of the head twice through the open window of the passenger door.
"A male approached the car with a rock and told her to get out. A friend of my daughter's took her away and a group of six to 10 teenagers came after them."
He said his daughter did not know any of her attackers but friends with her were able to identify some of the people allegedly involved.
"My daughter got into another car and the group descended on it.
"She tried to lock it but couldn't and she was taken out and dragged from the car," he said.
"The group was stopped by a man, who I'm very grateful to, and is somebody who knew me and my daughter and didn't care about the guy threatening everyone with a rock, probably because he was a bit bigger than him.
"He got the girls off my daughter and once she had got up and got to another vehicle he sat on the boot until they left, protecting her from getting attacked again," he said.
When she arrived home to her parents she "collapsed" and explained what had happened and then they called the police.
"My daughter hasn't been out in public since and the emotional damage is so severe.
"It's also affected her mother terribly as well as myself.
"The police have been fantastic throughout everything and I can't thank them enough but they need more names and witnesses and that is why I'm begging for people to come forward," he said.