Witnesses urged to step up and report assaults

Three recent assaults where nobody called police have prompted a plea to report violence as soon as it happens.

Two assaults happened in central Blenheim in the past week, during the day in front of shoppers and pedestrians.

Some bystanders even intervened to break it up or help the victims, but nobody called the police.

A third assault was filmed on a cellphone by a bystander a couple of weeks ago, who shared the video with others but did not report it to police.

Community Constable Russ Smith said in those three instances, police had to follow up the assaults afterwards, when people involved and witnesses had left the scene, making investigations a lot more difficult.

‘‘If you see or hear something that you believe is criminal or suspicious, call the police on 111 at the time. Don’t doubt yourself and leave it until later,’’ Smith said.

‘‘The police would rather be called to attend and find that they are not required, than find out about a crime or serious incident well after the fact.’’

One of the assaults was a fight between two people on Queen St on Monday afternoon. Police only became aware of it because an officer happened to see it ‘‘by sheer coincidence’’ during work involving the town’s video surveillance camera feeds, Smith said.

With officers still identifying and interviewing people, it was too early to say whether anyone involved would face charges, he said.

However, one person had been charged with assault in relation to the other central Blenheim incident, which happened one morning late last week.

Both assaults resulted in injuries – one victim had a bleeding nose and the other had cuts and bruises.

The third instance of an unreported assault involved a deliberate attack on a young person that was filmed on a cellphone by a bystander.

Smith said he was really disappointed to learn the bystander was interested in the event enough to share the video with other people, but did not report it to police.

‘‘We only heard about it third or fourthhand, through another party who wasn’t there.’’ Police again had to investigate the assault after the fact, Smith said.

‘‘Police staff rely on good information to make their efforts effective . . . It is so much easier for police to resolve the facts of an incident if they are called at the time and are able to speak to all the people involved.’’