Deaf men attacked over t-shirt

Two profoundly deaf men getting petrol at a service station were assaulted by a gang member irritated by the t-shirt one was wearing and the fact they didn’t understand him. The two men pulled into the service station in Hastings on June 23 and were in the process of refuelling their car when a local man approached one of them and challenged him about the t-shirt the other deaf man was wearing. The local man was angry because the t-shirt appeared to mention the name of a rival gang, The Tribesmen. Neither of the deaf men are members of The Tribesmen, but the man wearing the t-shirt had a family member who was. The deaf men did not understand what the local man was getting upset about and were unable to communicate with him. This angered the local man, so he punched and kicked both the deaf men. As this was occurring, another man, Jade Eriha, showed up. Eriha, 32, is a Mongrel Mob member and also didn’t like the t-shirt. So he ran up to one of the deaf men and punched him in the head several times. Then he engaged in a lengthy struggle in a bid to rip the offending t-shirt off the deaf man. But he wasn’t able to get the t-shirt, so he got back in his car and drove away. The other local man left a short time later. When police tracked down Eriha he told them he had seen the assault and decided to join in when he saw the Tribesmen t-shirt. He appeared in Hastings District Court and pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault. He was granted bail and will be sentenced in October. The other man faces a similar charge.