Women’s throat broken by punch

A Christchurch woman attacked after leaving a music festival will live the rest of her life with a metal plate in her neck, her mother says.

Amelia Rayner is still in an induced coma after she and her boyfriend were attacked soon after leaving the Electric Avenue music festival about 11.15pm on Saturday.

Police have called for members of the public who may have seen the attack or have any information to come forward.

The 29-year-old’s mother, Barbara, said the assault happened after three men approached and took her daughter’s hat while she crossed the Armagh St bridge.

‘‘She went and grabbed it back and her boyfriend may have said something to the guys but then that was that.’’

Barbara Rayner said the couple continued along Park Tce before the three men returned with a fourth and assaulted her daughter’s boyfriend, near the intersection of Salisbury St.

When she tried to stop the attack, Rayner was punched in the throat by one of the attackers, her mother said.

Police were called and Rayner, who was having trouble breathing but was able to talk, was taken to Christchurch Hospital. She has been in an induced coma since.

Barbara Rayner said her daughter had a ‘‘severe break’’ in her trachea and was scheduled to undergo surgery to have a metal plate put in. Surgeons postponed the surgery until at least today because of an infection in her lungs.

‘‘The swelling must have gone down [on Monday night], so they did another scan and they found that this windpipe’s been forced in and has left a very narrow opening for the air to come in and out.

‘‘They’re going to cut her neck, put a metal plate in and bring it back. That plate will just stay in there, so it shouldn’t restrict her breathing.’’

Rayner said her daughter’s boyfriend and both families were ‘‘devastated’’.