A 13-year-old schoolgirl is traumatised after a group of up to 20 children attacked her as she waited for her bus at an Auckland bus station.
The girl’s mother told the Herald her daughter got “smashed up quite badly – for no reason” while at the New Lynn station.
“I turned up and she was in the ambulance. She had a massive bump on her head and grazes on her face. I was really quite upset when I saw her,” her mother said.
“She was crying as she told me, ‘You know, mum, the worst thing is that nobody stepped in to help’.”
Her mother had read a Herald report of a separate incident at the New Lynn bus station where a 13-year-old boy was set upon on April 14. Considering the similarity, she felt compelled to share her daughter’s story.
“I thought she would have been safe in such a public place, but I guess not,” the mother said.
“I’m hoping that just by saying something, it might help change things.”
The attack happened at about 6pm on Saturday, April 20.
Her mother said her daughter was now too frightened to take the bus.
Gangs of kids have reportedly been causing trouble at the New Lynn bus and train station.
Police said two teenage girls, aged 13 and 15, were arrested after police responded to the incident before 6.30pm on April 20.
“Police take this sort of offending seriously and we will continue to respond to these incidents urgently,” a spokesperson said.
Auckland Transport (AT) public transport operations general manager Rachel Cara said it was aware of the incident.
“Safety is our priority across the network, and it saddens us to again hear of an assault involving a young person.
“As this is a wider societal issue involving young people, we will continue to work with police. We will continue to make the best use of CCTV and other safety measures to assist them.”
Cara said, following this incident, AT’s rail operator deployed additional security.
“The Western Line roaming officer will now do school patrols until 4.30pm each day, then move to New Lynn to patrol the bus interchange until the end of the day,” she said.
“This additional security was in place from April 24 and will continue until further notice.
“While these incidents are truly concerning, we want to assure our customers that we have robust safety measures in place across the whole network and most customers have a safe journey.”
Teenagers attacked at bus stations
This incident is another in a series of violent attacks on teenagers at Auckland bus stations during the school holidays.
A 13-year-old boy was set upon for no reason while waiting for a bus with friends on the afternoon of April 14.
The boy’s mother, who asked to remain anonymous, said she received a frantic call from her son asking her to pick him and his friends up following the attack.
“He and [one of his friends] both got hit twice in the head. He had a split eyebrow and his friend had a bruised jaw.
“I took [my son] to the doctor just to make sure he didn’t have a concussion ... the next day. He did have a headache when he moved his head around.”
In an April 24 incident, one teenage girl was attacked by a group of six other teenage girls at Henderson bus station while someone filmed the assault.
In the video that was shared on social media, the girls surrounded the victim with two knocking her to the ground.
After she fell to the floor, four teenagers began punching and stomping her.
The video was captioned, “We’re not sorry” and “the girls attacking... there [sic] all from Waitak”.
One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Herald she believed the same group of girls attacked her daughter earlier in the day in Henderson Mall.
Two teenage girls were attacked by a group of six young people while on a bus at Albany station on April 22.
Two teenage girls were attacked by a group of six young people while on a bus in Albany on April 22.
The assault happened when the pair arrived at Albany bus station around 5pm.
Waitematā East Police Relieving Area Commander Mike Rickards said: “Both victims were assaulted by a member of the group before all six ran from the bus on foot towards the shopping centre nearby.”
Rickards said the group of six were located near the mall and all were taken into custody without further incident.
“Concerningly, a knife was located on the 14-year-old male and was confiscated.”
The attack left one of the victims traumatised and scared to catch the bus again.
“I’m still in shock and I can’t believe that it happened,” she told 1News, adding she was stressed because the bus was her primary mode of transport but she would have to avoid it for a while.
This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.
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