The victim of an alleged attack in a Mount Maunganui mall was seen lying on the ground holding her stomach with “lots of blood around her” as onlookers rushed to help. 

A 16-year-old girl was taken into custody shortly after the incident at Countdown supermarket inside Bayfair Shopping Centre yesterday afternoon.  

Police say she has now been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and is due to appear in Tauranga District Court next week. 

Witnesses believe the victim was stabbed, with one onlooker saying they saw two teenagers running away from the Countdown. 

The victim was taken to hospital in a serious condition and is now stable, police said today, 

A worker at a hair salon told NZME of the moments after the incident as customers left Countdown and spilled into the mall. 

“We were locked in the salon – I work there – my client came in saying she heard someone drop behind her in the supermarket and thought someone had fallen over,” the worker told NZME today. 

“She says she turned to look and saw, about a metre away from her, a girl on the ground clutching her stomach with lots of blood around her.” 

The customer said bystanders helped the victim, while the woman left the supermarket with all the other customers. 

Afterwards, supermarket staff used trolleys to barricade the store entrance, while a group of girls could be seen sitting on a couch crying, the worker said. 

A second store owner said they saw two teenage girls run out of Countdown heading towards Bayfair’s food court and Dine area. 

“They were aged about 15 or 16, two teenage girls, they were wearing skirts, maybe a school uniform, with jumpers. 

“It was very fast. We just thought it was someone after school running off to catch a bus or something,” they said. 

“Then we saw everyone gathering at Countdown. We thought something was going wrong. 

“Then ambulance and cops came in with guns. The police started clearing Countdown out. We saw someone in Countdown on the floor with blood. You could see blood. 

“Everything happened so fast.” 

Aman Singh, manager of The Coffee Club Bayfair, said police and ambulance staff were quick to get to the scene. 

“We were busy working, it was very casual with people relaxed. Then at about 4.30pm we heard one girl screaming and a second girl was running past,” he told NZME. 

Countdown staff called authorities, he said, and ambulance and police came within five minutes. 

Security increased at Bayfair 

Bayfair Shopping Centre manager Steve Ellingford called yesterday’s events “an isolated incident”. 

The centre had, however, taken additional measures to increase safety. 

“We have put on additional security over the next two days,” Ellingford said. 

“We continue to assist police with their investigation.” 

A spokeswoman for the centre said it is open today “and all retailers have resumed normal operations”. 

Community calls for greater police presence 

Michael O’Neill, president of the Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association, said the first response to the alleged attack needed to be a police one. 

“So far there have been a few issues around Arataki and in particular with youth,” he said 

“Obviously, there’s always concern with any form of violence, which seems to be on the increase.” 

He believed rising crime is a nationwide problem and wants to see a broader approach to tackling it that takes into account how young people use social media and what they see on it. 

Armed police officers were called to Bayfair Shopping Centre in Mount Maunganui after an alleged attack. 

‘Unacceptable’ - Prime Minister Christopher Luxon 

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon this morning expressed sympathy with the victim of the alleged attack. 

”Our thoughts go out to the people...that’s just unacceptable.” 

He said he believed his Government had done incredibly well in starting its term by progressing a law and order agenda. 

Luxon conceded his team needed to make sure they lowered the crime rate across the country. 

”I’m frustrated about it, I know the public is frustrated about it,” he said of violent crime. 

“We’ve been working incredibly hard to get the legislative system changes in place and support, we need to give the police more tools to be able to deal with it.” 

Police swarmed Bayfair Shopping Centre last night responding to the incident. 

by Rosalie Liddle Crawford of SunMedia 

Additional reporting: Ben Leahy 

This article was originally published on the NZ Herald here.