Victim ‘clutching her stomach’
Teenage girl seen lying in pool of blood in alleged mall attack in Mount Maunganui
We saw someone in Countdown on the floor with blood. You could see blood. Everything happened so fast.
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 on Friday 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 yesterday,
A worker at a hair salon told 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 said.
“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 supermarket staff used trolleys to barricade the store entrance. 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.” Bayfair Shopping Centre manager Steve Ellingford called Friday’s events “an isolated incident”.
The centre had, however, taken additional measures to increase safety, putting more security in place over the next two days.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon yesterday expressed sympathy with the victim of the alleged attack.
“Our thoughts go out to the people . . that’s just unacceptable.”
He conceded his team needed to make sure they lowered the crime rate across the country.
“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.”
Store owner