Queen St bashing witness: 'There was blood everywhere'

NZ POLICE

These men, captured on CCTV footage, were suspected by police to be part of the mob of eight who savagely attacked two 25-year-olds on Auckland's Queen St.

When Sianna Tohilima arrived at the scene of a brutal assault in downtown Auckland there was blood "everywhere".

Two men were on the ground – one unconscious, the other struggling on his hands and knees – as eight others "kicked and stomped them", she said.

The incident took place about 2.30am Saturday, on Queen St.

Police described it as a "violent, frenzied attack", and said the offenders remained at large as of Wednesday evening.

Tohilima, 22, said that she, her partner Dennis Leau, and their friends Tanisha Rapira, Hayden Etuata and Twin Niukore intervened when they realised no other bystanders were helping the victims.

"There was blood everywhere and there were a lot of people there, but they were just standing around in a circle," she said.

"So we went in to fend the attackers off, but were outnumbered – five versus eight – and they just kept coming from all directions, kicking, stomping the guys on the head, and everything else."

She said she called the ambulance and police, then stood over the unconscious victim's head in a bid to protect him.

"I wasn't scared, I don't know why . . . you see two people hurt and you automatically want to help," she said. 

Tohilima described the attackers as young. "To be honest they looked too young to even be in town," she said.

"They wouldn't touch us girls; they'd be saying stuff like, 'it's all good sis, you don't know what they did'.

"And I was like, 'I don't care what they did – haven't you had enough? This guy is unconscious and you're still kicking him in the head'."

The group of attackers ran away before the emergency services arrived, making their way down Queen St "yelling south side and west side, like the kids do", Tohilima said.

Both victims were 25 years old and were taken to Auckland City Hospital, one in a critical condition, police said.

Detective Constable Tom Malcolm of the Auckland City Criminal Investigation Branch said the assault had been captured on CCTV.

However, he said police would not be releasing the video at this stage, as it was very graphic and it would be traumatic for the victims and their families.

Anyone with information was asked to phone Malcolm on 09 213 8683 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.