A man has been charged with assault following the stabbing of a woman at Lynn Mall, West Auckland, earlier today.
Police said the 26-year-old is likely to face more serious charges for the assault.
The woman was waiting for her partner to do the shopping at the Countdown when she was allegedly stabbed. According to the woman’s uncle, Kawiti Kawiti, the person was known to the victim and had allegedly previously made threats against her.
A police spokesperson said that the 44-year-old woman was stabbed during an altercation between two men.
The weapon was later confirmed by police to be a corkscrew, not a screwdriver.
The woman, who is understood to be a well-known local identity, is in hospital in a stable condition.
Kawiti said that his niece was waiting for her partner who was inside the nearby supermarket getting lunch.
He alleged that while she sat in the sun in a nearby reserve her attacker pulled up in a car and a heated argument broke out.
”He shouldn’t have done that,” Kawiti said.
Police confirmed they responded to an emergency incident near LynnMall in West Auckland that left one woman injured.
A large police presence was at the scene and an area of the park on Great North Rd was cordoned off before being reopened. Ambulances attended before the woman was transported to Auckland City Hospital.
An officer investigating the assault was seen taking a swab from the road.
“Police were called to a disorder incident on Great North Rd in New Lynn about 1.30pm,” police said in a statement.
A woman was injured and transported to hospital in a serious condition.
“A man is custody and there is no ongoing threat to the public.”
The incident took place on Great North Rd itself between Veronica St and Memorial Drive.
LynnMall was the scene of a graphic knife attack in September last year.
On September 3, Isis-inspired terrorist Ahamed Samsudeen stabbed six shoppers at New Lynn Countdown supermarket before being shot dead by police.
At the time, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Samsudeen was under “constant police surveillance”.
The man was a known threat risk since 2016 and had been previously arrested for allegedly planning a “lone wolf” knife attack.
Police were following the man after he left home and walked into the New Lynn Countdown - before he took a knife from a shelf, and carried out the attack.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said the man was “closely watched by surveillance teams and a strategic tactical team” as he travelled from his home in Glen Eden to Countdown in New Lynn.
He was shot and killed by police within 60 seconds of picking up the knife and starting the attack.