Frenzied beating baffles victims

The group beating of a Masterton couple outside their own gate on Wednesday left blood in the street and their 4-year-old daughter screaming after the frenzied attack turned into a desperate escape bid for her injured father.
But Quinne Lockyer and wife Jacqui refuse to be bowed after the attack and were to return today "to clean up the glass and the blood" and reclaim the Kirton Street home they share with daughter Danielle.
"It is our home, our castle. When I was lying there in hospital last night I thought how easy it would be to just never go back," Mr Lockyer said yesterday.
"But that would be running away and they would win, the victory would be theirs. The fear of returning home is quite real but we are going to overcome that."
Mr Lockyer and his wife are still baffled as to the cause of the late afternoon attack, allegedly at the hands of five teenagers who while passing had damaged a fence fronting the Lockyer property.
The five teenagers ? three males and two females ? denied damaging the fence when questioned by Mr Lockyer and his wife, and had offered to help repair the fence before attacking him as he bent to the task himself.
"They just turned on him. All of a sudden he was lying in the gutter in a foetal position and they were kicking and punching him in the head and body," Mrs Lockyer said.
She attempted to pull the attackers, who she said smelled of alcohol, from her husband but was struck in the face and pulled backwards by the scruff of the neck.
"I started shouting 'in Jesus' name get off him, in Jesus' name leave him alone' and they fell away from him.
"I was so glad Danielle was inside and didn't see the attack.
"But then Quinne got up and told me to call the police. While I was calling he was chased round the front of the house and ran inside.
"A hole was punched in a window of the front door while Quinne was holding it shut to keep them out. I think Danielle saw her Dad about then.
"His face was covered in blood and you couldn't really see it was him. I heard her screaming."
Mr Lockyer received a broken nose, cuts to his face, and bruised ribs and kidneys during the incident, Mrs Lockyer said, and she was left with a bruised face and wrenched wrist.
Serious head injuries were suspected at first, Mr Lockyer said, "but I was lucky the worst was my teeth through my lip, cuts, swollen face, and a broken nose".
Mr Lockyer, who suffers panic disorder, spent the night in hospital on Wednesday and said he has already suffered flashbacks to the attack that at the time he felt he would not survive.
"Most of the punches and kicks were to my head and every time I was hit there was another flash, like fireworks going off. I was thinking 'when is this going to stop?'
"It seemed to go on and on and I was terrified it was going to kill me ? that I was going to die in the gutter."
The couple realise that the wounds suffered by Mr Lockyer will heal before his emotional recovery is complete, but they are determined to face the prospect as a family in the comfort of their own home.
A police monitored alarm and surveillance system will ensure their safety, they said, which " is just one of the ways the police have been there for the entire family since this happened".
A woman and two men aged 18 appeared in Masterton District Court yesterday on joint charges relating to the incident of injuring with intent to injure. They were remanded on bail to reappear on Monday. Two other teenagers, both 16, were referred to the police youth aid for their alleged roles in the same attack.