Police in New Zealand are hunting for a large woman who allegedly assaulted a 16-year-old Chinese boy with a metal pole on an Auckland bus, knocking out five of his teeth.
Details of the alleged attack on Friday morning — the Maori New Year public holiday — were first shared on Chinese social media platform WeChat by local news blogger Mao Peng.
According to the Chinese-language report, the teen was on board the bus going from East Auckland towards the city when he was attacked by a “woman in her 40s who looked Maori”.
“She weighed more than 200 kilograms [about 441 lbs] and held an iron rod about 12mm [about 0.5 in] thick and one meter [over three feet] long in her hand,” a witness told Mao.
It’s not clear exactly how he estimated the woman’s weight.
“As soon as she got on the bus, she used the iron rod to hit the bus floor from time to time,” the witness continued. “The girl who was originally sitting next to her hid in other seats. Unexpectedly, the woman suddenly stood up and hit a Chinese boy in the row next to her with the iron rod. The woman hit him repeatedly with the iron rod and stabbed the boy in the face.”
The witness, a 75-year-old Chinese man on the bus who rushed to the boy’s aid, said “more than a dozen” other Chinese people sitting on the bus “sat in their seats and did nothing” despite him yelling for help.
“The two of us then wrestled with each other,” he said.
“I could only lock the woman’s neck with my left hand and hit her head with my mobile phone with my right hand.”
The elderly man, who was also injured during the struggle, said he and the victim eventually managed to take away the weapon.
The woman fled when the bus stopped at Panmure Railway Station.
“It was then that I realized that the boy’s mouth and face were full of blood, several of his front teeth were knocked out, and he was shaking with pain,” he said.
“Despite this, the child still struggled to call the police, who arrived about 30 minutes later, took the boy away for a statement, and called an ambulance. What makes me angry is that the passengers in the car watched us fighting … but no one dared to come to help. I shouted several times but they still did nothing. I later yelled at them and said they were bastards, but none of them said a word.”
The victim’s mother told Mao their family had immigrated to New Zealand nearly seven years ago and had never experienced anything similar.
The victim, a towering teen at 185 centimeters tall [over six feet], was on his was to play basketball with his classmates on Friday when the alleged attack occurred.
He told Peng he got on the bus at the Johns Lane stop with the woman, and that soon after she started shouting at him but he “didn’t react at first because I was listening to music with headphones on”.
“I took off my headphones and asked her politely if she was talking to me,” the boy said. “Then I heard her shouting ‘f**k’ and ‘Chink’ at me, which are words that are particularly discriminatory against Chinese people in the West.”
She then suddenly stood up and hit him with the stick across a row of seats, he said.
The story has generated heated reaction among Chinese internet users, who praised the actions of the 75-year-old while condemning the indifference of bystanders.
“Shame on those who are silent in the face of violence!” one wrote.
Another said, “Today is Matariki Maori Festival. Is this public festival celebrated by all the people a day for beating people? Is it a day for racial discrimination?”
NZ Police confirmed officers were investigating an assault on a bus travelling through the Pakuranga area on Friday and were seeking assistance from the public.
The victim was on a bus heading from Howick towards Auckland City along Pakuranga Road at about 9:15am, according to police.
Acting Detective Senior Sergeant James Mapp said an unknown woman then hopped on the bus before assaulting the victim with an object.
“This was an unprovoked assault, which left the victim with serious facial injuries,” he said.
“The offender has alighted from the bus prior to police arrival. We understand the fear and concern events like this inflict on the community and we will continue to pursue every lead to hold this person to account. Police have no tolerance for this type of crime or intimidation in our communities. We are also providing support to the victim and want to reassure the community we are working hard to locate the person responsible.”
Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Mapp said police were continuing to make inquiries into the matter and would like to hear from anyone who has information in relation to this incident.
NZ Police would not confirm the description of the alleged attacker reported in Chinese media and have not released any CCTV footage or images.
“Unfortunately we are not in a position to release any footage at this stage,” a spokeswoman said.
