Woman attacked by beggar at workplace
A 60-year-old woman was attacked by a rough sleeper in her central-city workplace and left with broken bones and posttraumatic stress disorder.
She was also alarmed and disappointed by the emergency response at a time police say they are beefing up foot patrols in the city, and the Christchurch City Council prepares to fund ‘‘outreach’’ social workers.
Police took 17 minutes to arrive after Jessica* was assaulted at Cosmo Pharmacy in Colombo St, central Christchurch, despite the nearest station being 160 metres away.
She was working in the store last month when a large man entered late in the day.
After she tried to help him with a muddled request, he head-butted her with moderate force, hurting her nose, cheek and pushing her glasses off her face. The man pushed her several times while she and a colleague tried to get him to leave.
‘‘He walked up and he shoved me in the chest, straight back onto the wall . . . By that time [a colleague] was right beside me and we were screaming at him to get out,’’ she said.
Then the man ‘‘up-ended’’ the slim, 1.5m-tall woman onto the floor, where she landed between a counter and some cupboards.
She held her hands up in self-defence. As one of the blows came down it broke her finger – an injury a doctor later described as one suffered mostly by cricketers attempting to catch a fast ball.
After what ‘‘felt like an hour’’, she managed to squirm out of the way and escape. The man left the store before police had arrived.
This week she was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. Jessica breaks down when she recalls the assault and what it has done to her mental wellbeing. She asks not to be identified due to the fear of another attack.
‘‘This is what gets me. I’m always the strong one . . . so to get reduced to this is new for me,’’ she said through tears.
Canterbury Metro Commander Superintendent Lane Todd said police went to the scene but the man had fled. Officers found him about 5.40pm the same day, arrested and charged him with male assaults female. He appeared in the Christchurch District Court the following day and had been remanded in custody since. He was due to reappear on July 31.
Todd defended the police response time, and said officers were called at 4.05pm on the day of the assault and told the man was heading for the bus interchange on Lichfield St. They arrived at 4.22pm.
‘‘Police prioritise attendance at events based on many factors, such as the seriousness of the individual circumstances, vulnerability of the people involved [and] potential for the incident to escalate.
‘‘It’s important to remember that police are mobile and may not always be deployed from a police station . . . in general, the closest free unit to an address will be deployed to ensure a timely response.’’
Todd said police were working with the council and other agencies regarding reports of anti-social behaviour in the CBD.
Earlier this week, police announced they would increase the number of foot patrols in the city centre within the next three-to-six months, in a bid to curb antisocial behaviour. A multi-agency street count last year tallied 215 people sleeping rough in central Christchurch, a number many believe is growing.
On Thursday, all city councillors approved to fund $70,000 for one full-timeequivalent ‘‘outreach social worker’’ to contribute to the effort over 12 months.
The Christchurch City Mission would fund another, and councillors requested a review after about six months into the plan to measure its effectiveness.
At Thursday’s meeting, Councillor Anne Galloway said the need for the funding became ‘‘urgent’’ as agencies heard ‘‘more and more incidences of people feeling unsafe’’ in the city centre.
The biggest impact on Jessica came two days after she tried to return to work.
She woke in the middle of the night in pain and barely able to move. A relative rushed her to the hospital where she was told she had suffered a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) – a type of heart attack.
‘‘Beyond the physical injuries, this has undoubtedly caused her significant emotional stress,’’ a cardiologist wrote about Jessica.
‘‘SCAD has been shown to be associated with emotional stress . . . I am highly suspicious that this lady’s ordeal was associated with her SCAD.’’
* Name changed.
‘‘I’m always the strong one . . . so to get reduced to this is new for me.’’ Attack victim