Two arrested over baseball bat attack

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Two men from Opotiki have been arrested over an alleged baseball bat beating of three people at a house in the city in the early hours of Saturday morning.

A 54-year-old man remains in a critical but stable condition in Waikato Hospital with a skull fracture and swelling of the brain.

A 24-year-old woman was admitted to Gisborne Hospital and a 37-year-old man was treated and discharged as a result of the alleged assault.

The woman is also expected to go Waikato Hospital some time this week for surgery on facial injuries.

"We took three people into custody at a house late Sunday night," said Detective Senior Sergeant Craig Scott.

Two men aged 25 and 30, and a woman aged 20, all from the eastern Bay of Plenty, were interviewed by police yesterday.

"The two Opotiki men have been charged in relation to the incident.

"A 30-year-old has been charged with three charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, burglary and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.

"A 25-year-old has also been charged with burglary and the unlawful taking of a motor vehicle," Mr Scott said.

The woman was not charged.

It is alleged the 30-year-old man used a baseball bat to beat the three people in the house.

Police allege the group drove to the house in a car that was later found abandoned.

The car was reported stolen from Opotiki on Friday evening.

"They went to the house looking for someone," Mr Scott said. "When the people in the house told them the people they wanted to see no longer lived there and asked them to leave, an argument started and the alleged assault occurred.

"The three people in the car were not known to the three people in the house."