Emergency services were called to Riverside Drive, Whangārei, on April 22 after reports a 74-year-old man had been assaulted. Photo / Brodie Stone
A 74-year-old Whangārei man was left lying in a pool of blood outside a fish and chip shop after allegedly being coward-punched by a stranger in broad daylight. He and his wife spoke exclusively to reporter Brodie Stone about what unfolded that day.
The man, who did not want to be named, has no memory of the moment he was struck. But what he can remember, he recalled in detail.
His ordeal began in the carpark outside Stumpy’s Takeaways on Riverside Drive about 1pm on April 22. The popular pit stop into the city was usually busy with people grabbing lunch and drivers filling up at the nearby BP.
The man was in the driver’s seat of his parked vehicle, engine off, and on the phone while waiting for his wife to return with their fish and chips.
Through his windscreen, he said he saw a young woman of about 16 years old sitting in the back of a parked car that was facing the neighbouring Bait & Tackle shop.
“She had her face up against the window, just looking at me,” he said.
The man claimed she was “mouthing off” but about what, he doesn’t know.
The young woman got out of her car and started walking towards the man, “yelling and bloody carrying on”, he said.
He then alleged she turned back to her car and spoke to three men and another woman inside the vehicle.
At that point, the man’s wife arrived with their lunch, unaware of what had happened.
She got into the passenger seat, unwrapped a piece of fish and skimmed through a magazine as she ate.
Her husband started the vehicle and drove about a metre before being stopped unexpectedly.
“One of these young fellows walked out in front of my wagon,” the man said.
He saw the younger man yelling and got out of his car.
“I just stopped and said to him, ‘What’s your problem?’, end of story. Because that’s all I remember.”
He believes a second man attacked him from behind as he spoke with the man blocking his path.
“They just got in their car and drove off,” the man said.
His wife got out of the vehicle to find her husband trying to pull himself off the ground. A nearby shop worker had rushed to help.
“There was a big pool of blood behind his head, and I just went [into] panic mode,” she said.
“I didn’t know what to do.”
She called her husband of 54 years the love of her life.
According to medical notes, the man was struck on the front of his head several times, fell backwards, hit the back of his head and lost consciousness for at least a minute.
He was diagnosed with a frontal traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage, which is bleeding into the space around the brain caused by head trauma.
When the Northern Advocate visited him at home nearly three weeks later, he still had bruising around his left eye and two healed cuts above it.
The man said he had ongoing pain and felt dizzy if he stood up too quickly. He struggles with loud noises despite previously being hard of hearing.
“I’m deaf as a bloody post,” he said, gesturing to his hearing aids.
But now loud noises, such as a door slamming, were intense.
The man’s wife praised those who helped her husband, including people who kept his wallet safe while he was rushed to Whangārei Hospital.
He was grateful for the emergency responders and those who assisted.
Police have not made any arrests but said they are working to find those involved.
The man wants his attackers caught. He said he had been told the group left Whangārei and police believed they were travelling in a rental car.
Northland Criminal Investigation Branch detective Senior Sergeant Ryan Cooper wouldn’t give further details other than saying police believed the man was approached by two men and a woman before being assaulted.
“It appears one of the men has then punched the victim, knocking him to the ground.”
On April 30, police released photos of a man they said may be able to assist with their investigation.
Cooper appealed for anyone with information or footage related to the assault to contact police via 105 online or by phone, referencing file number 260422/5756.
Information can also be provided anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.