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Police are appealing for information after what they describe as two unprovoked, brutal and vicious assaults on four young people on the North Shore overnight.
North Shore CIB Detective Sergeant Scott Armstrong said the level of violence used on the four victims in the attacks in the suburbs of Milford Beach and Takapuna far exceeded what was needed .
All four victims are in hospital with serious injuries, with one of the victim's conditions having deteriorated during the day.
In the first incident, about 1.30am today, a 20-year-old woman and 25-year-old man were sitting in a Mercedes car parked at Milford Beach.
A man approached them, asking for a beer and after a brief conversation was joined by two other men.
The couple were then violently assaulted with a baseball bat and robbed of personal belongings.
The woman ran into a nearby reserve and swam across the Milford marina where she sought help from local residents.
The man staggered more than 300 metres towards Omana Road before a police patrol vehicle en route to the scene discovered him.
The woman is in Middlemore Hospital with an orbital fracture to her right eye and she has other facial lacerations and a fractured finger.
The woman will need plastic surgery and it is likely she will remain in hospital for several more days.
The man was recovering in North Shore Hospital with internal head bleeding but will not require surgery.
Police said the second assault happened about 4am.
A 20-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man were walking along Lake Road, Takapuna when a dark coloured car with several male occupants pulled up alongside them.
One of the occupants got out and attacked the couple knocking them unconscious.
The woman had her handbag taken. The couple were discovered by a passing motorist before being taken to North Shore Hospital by ambulance.
The woman's condition has deteriorated and has been transferred to Auckland Hospital for neurosurgery.
The woman has a compressed skull fracture and possible fractured jaw.
The man remains under observation and has serious head injuries and is expected to be in hospital for several more days.
"Someone knows who these offenders are," Mr Armstrong said.
"Their peer groups or associates should share our outrage at these two crimes and overlook any loyalties they have to the perpetrators responsible."
Police are not ruling out a link between the two attacks.
"If it is established that there is a link then this will be of real concern to us.
"We want anyone who was in the vicinity of either Milford Beach or Takapuna at about the time these two attacks occurred to contact us as soon as possible."
The public can send information to the Offender Information Text Line at 027 2727 669 or phone 09 839 0600.
- NZPA
