Young Asian assault victim suffering nightmares after Auckland hotel attack

A 9-year-old Asian girl who was reportedly attacked in a hotel bathroom has been behaving differently since the assault, her mother says.

By Liu Chen of RNZ

A 9-year-old Asian tourist who was reportedly assaulted at a hotel in Auckland last week is experiencing recurring nightmares, her mother says.

Zhu, who spoke on condition of using her family name out of reprisal fears, arrived from China with her daughter in mid-July for a holiday.

On August 7, her daughter was allegedly assaulted by a female teenager in a bathroom in the Crowne Plaza hotel in central Auckland – an attack that left bruises all over her face, Zhu said.

Bruises on the 9-year-old's face after the attack.

The alleged assailant, when confronted after the attack, claimed Zhu’s daughter embarrassed her by trying to enter the cubicle she was using.

Zhu’s daughter later denied this happened.

Zhu’s daughter said someone tried to open the cubicle door she was using before striking her face and head as she attempted to leave, Zhu said.

Police said the investigation into the incident remained ongoing but they were “not treating this as a hate-motivated crime”.

Zhu said her daughter’s behaviour had changed since the attack.

“My daughter is showing signs of PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder],” Zhu said. “She asks if cameras have been installed where we’re living and checks to see if doors are locked multiple times each day.”

Zhu said her daughter suffered what appeared to be anxiety attacks whenever encountering a teenager who resembled her alleged attacker.

“She has been having nightmares since [the attack] happened,” Zhu said.

“I think such things shouldn’t happen to anyone anywhere,” she said. “This is totally unexpected. I feel distressed.”

Zhu was looking for a therapist to help her daughter.

A 16-year-old student was left with severe facial injuries after being assaulted on an Auckland bus. Photo / Michael Craig

Police have called some recent attacks targeting Asian New Zealanders “hate-motivated”, including an attack on a 16-year-old Chinese student on a bus that left him with severe facial injuries.

David Yang, chair of the Safe Communities Association, said the attacks were concerning, calling on the Government to introduce harsher penalties for offenders.

“The three Chinese MPs need to do something,” Yang said. “They need to speak out at Parliament and pass our voice on to the government.”

National Party list MP Nancy Lu said she had reached out to victims of the attacks as quickly as she could.

Lu said she had worked with the victims and their families and provided first-hand information to ministers and other MPs to support them.

“I have zero tolerance for crime and harm, and I know our Government is serious and working hard to restore law and order,” Lu said.

“We’re toughening up sentences, restoring ‘Three Strikes’, putting more police on the beat in our cities, cracking down on gangs and establishing a military-style academy for serious young offenders.”

Carlos Cheung, National Party MP for Mt Roskill, said offenders should face consequences for their actions, noting the Government was capping sentence discounts, amending sentencing principles and encouraging cumulative sentences.

“Any violent crime, including racially motivated offences, is unacceptable,” Cheung said. “Over the past six years, criminals haven’t faced the tough consequences they should, leading to more victims.”

He believed a comprehensive approach was needed for law and order.

“This includes reforming education, ensuring adequate housing and creating opportunities for all Kiwis,” he said. “Our Government is fully committed to these goals, alongside rebuilding the economy and strengthening public services.”

Green Party list MP Lawrence Xu-Nan said the incidents were “incredibly concerning and confronting”.

“Nobody deserves to be treated this way,” Xu said. “We must work together to bring all forms of discrimination to an end and celebrate the diversity that makes Aotearoa special.”

However, Xu-Nan said a punitive, tough-on-crime approach had never worked.

“We must address the root causes of violence through evidence-based preventive measures,” he said. “Education certainly has a role to play here in building understanding and respect between different communities.”

He said the cancelled hate-speech reform would have also provided a robust, legislative and reporting framework that would have monitored incidents of hate speech, threats or concerning behaviour.

- RNZ