Pair say attack remains a blank

Two teenagers beaten to the brink of death at a West Auckland park are out of hospital - one moved to a brain rehabilitation centre, the other awaiting facial surgery.

Police are speaking to boyfriend and girlfriend Nathaniel Morrow, 19, and Dana McCarthy, 17, on a daily basis but neither remembers anything about the apparently random attack.

Detective Sergeant Roger Small said it was frustrating for the pair and made the police inquiry difficult.

"But it [the attack] doesn't appear to have affected their long-term memory, which is good," he said. "There might be glimmers that come back, but then again there might be nothing at all, but we might get a full recovery."

The couple were found critically hurt near Starling Park in Ranui, on Saturday, March 7. A number of residents reported hearing screams for help, moaning and sobbing.

Gary McNelly was out walking his three dogs - Alice, Tui and Jeff - with his wife Claudine when Alice's ears pricked up and she began growling. The couple looked in every direction and found Mr Morrow on all fours on the ground, semi-conscious. While he was being treated by paramedics Ms McCarthy was at a nearby house seeking help.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Mr Morrow said he was in shock.

"I just woke up in hospital. I was like 'what the heck happened'. I just hope they catch whoever did this to us," he told the Herald on Sunday.

He has now been transferred to a neurological unit for monitoring because of brain bleeds suffered in the attack. Ms McCarthy is expected to be sent home after surgery to repair broken bones on her face.

Mr McNelly visited Mr Morrow and his parents in hospital last week and said he planned to stay in touch.

He was frustrated the attacker was still on the loose.

"Somebody has got to know something," Mr McNelly said.

There was community speculation that youth gangs might have been behind the attack, he said.

But the youth justice system was too soft, Mr McNelly said, and often gave young offenders a "slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket".

Mr Small said it was not appropriate to speculate about gang involvement and would not say whether police were profiling people of interest in the Starling Park area.

He told NZPA there was nothing to suggest the couple had a background that would attract attention from the criminal world.

"They were only kids ... It certainly appears to be a vicious, brutal, random attack. There is nothing at all to indicate any motivation."