• A Napier woman escaped a brutal two-hour attack by jumping naked from an upper-storey window.
• Two of her four attackers, Atalia Braid and Georgia Mulligan, have been sent to prison.
• Judge Gordon Matenga described the attack, which was filmed and posted online, as humiliating and degrading.

WARNING: This article includes descriptions of violence which may be upsetting to some readers.

A young woman jumped naked from the upper-storey window of a house to escape a prolonged and brutal beating perpetrated by four others during which she thought she might die.

During her two-hour ordeal, the Napier woman was shocked with a Taser-type weapon, punched, kicked and forced to strip naked before having hand sanitiser spread over her eyes, face and body.

Her female attackers made videos of the woman, one of them 18 minutes long, which they posted on social media.

The videos have since been declared legally “objectionable”, making it an offence to possess or share them.

Two of the women involved in the attack on September 10, 2023 have now been sent to prison.

Atalia Braid, 20, was sent to jail for two and a half years after pleading guilty to kidnapping, injuring with intent to injure, assault with a weapon, indecent assault, and making an objectionable publication.

Georgia Mulligan, 25, an instigator of the incident, was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting the same raft of offending plus possessing cannabis for supply, possessing ammunition and attempting to pervert the cause of justice.

Two others allegedly involved in the attack are still being dealt with by the courts.

“This was humiliating and degrading, and indeed that was clearly one of the motivating factors, indicated by the recording being made,” Judge Matenga told Mulligan and Braid in the Napier District Court.

He said the victim felt at the time that “you were going to finish her. That this was it for her; that you never planned to let her go”.

Judge Matenga said the woman was lured to a Napier address believing she would be paid some money owed to her.

Instead, she was confronted by one of the attackers wearing a balaclava and another who punched her in the face.

During the attack, Mulligan shouted at the woman and accused her of “bad-mouthing” her on social media.

The punches and kicks included blows to her face and head. She was shocked with the Taser-type weapon from close range and at a distance.

She felt she had no choice when ordered to take her clothes off and the hand sanitiser was applied to private parts of her body.

She was “thrown around”, the judge said, subjected to crude and sexualised comments, told to stop talking, told what to do and not to do.

The woman was covered in sanitiser, sweat and blood, and was told to have a shower.

From the bathroom, she managed to escape, jumping naked from an upper-storey window.

She ran and hid under a parked car, and then to another house, where she broke a window and got inside to hide herself.

Police were called and she was located.

The victim suffered bruising around her eyes and on her arms, a cut on her chin and wounds on her back.

Judge Matenga said she also had psychological and emotional injuries.

A victim impact statement he had read said she still struggled with “constant terrorising dreams”, hearing voices, and memories of her fear and hopelessness.

She had admitted herself to hospital three times due to her loss of sleep and lack of appetite.

“She is still paying the price of what you put her through,” Judge Matenga said.

The attack happened in the Wellesley Road area of Napier, which was cordoned off by armed police two days after it happened.

SEXUAL HARM

Where to get help:
If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone, contact Safe to Talk confidentially, any time 24/7:
• Call 0800 044 334
• Text 4334
• Email [email protected]
• For more info or to web chat visit safetotalk.nz
Alternatively contact your local police station - click here for a list.

If you have been sexually assaulted, remember it's not your fault.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.