Police apologise for response after fight
Tokoroa house left ‘splattered in blood’ after midnight fracas
They bashed the
**** out of each other like I’ve never
heard . . . this was brutal.they were right up against the windows.
Andrew
Police have apologised to a Tokoroa man for their response after his house was left “splattered in blood” following an alleged fight on his property.
Andrew, who would only be known by his first name, said about 12.30am last Thursday, he heard two men “screaming and yelling” outside the spare bedroom of his house.
He called the police who turned up 10 minutes later but the men had left.
“The morning after, I come out and there is a hood from a Kathmandu jacket left on the driveway. . . and the house is absolutely coated and splattered in blood”.
Andrew said he called 105 and filed a police report after finding blood on his house but said their response had been “blase´”.
“I appreciate they’re stretched but when a house is covered in blood from an assault the previous evening, you would think there’d be some sort of acknowledgement.”
Police confirmed they received a report of the incident and have since apologised for giving him the impression the matter was not being taken seriously.
Regarding the incident, Andrew said he was awake when he heard some dogs barking.
“Next thing [I] heard was all this scuffle.”
He heard two voices with one saying, ‘I’m going to do you with this piece’.”
“And I took that to mean a gun or a weapon or something.
“They bashed the **** out of each other like I’ve never heard . . . this was brutal. They were right up against the windows.”
The next morning, he found “great big smears” of blood on his house.
After the discovery, he called 105 to report it and was told it would be filed and sent to the police officer who attended.
But this officer would not be on duty until Monday.
Andrew said the police “did not indicate anything” about getting an officer to the property. In the meantime, he was told to put on a glove and put the hood in a bag and keep it in his garage.
“I just found it to be so blase´ . . . the fact that there’s significant stains . . . is just beyond me.”
A police spokesman said an officer at Tokoroa Police Station contacted Andrew on Friday to apologise for the delay in securing the forensic evidence and to assure him the police were taking the incident seriously.
Police visited the address on Saturday and completed forensic procedures, after which police staff washed the blood from the walls of the property using a disinfectant, the spokesman said.
A victim support referral was made for a resident at the property, the spokesman said.
“We understand that the incident has been distressing and local officers have apologised to [him] that he was given the impression that it was not being taken seriously.”
The spokesman said 105 calltakers were human and it seemed a “human error” had been made in advising that police would not be able to visit his property until Monday.
The spokesman said police made area inquiries after the initial 111 call was made but could not locate the individuals who were reportedly fighting.
No arrests have been made and police inquiries were ongoing.