Random knife attack

A man who found a female stranger in his backyard was stabbed along with his girlfriend in Hastings on Friday night.

Just after 6pm, seven police cars, two ambulances and a dog team attended the scene at a housing complex on Pattison Rd.

An associate of the victim said his friend had noticed the female in the backyard and, when he asked her to leave she attacked him and his partner.

"She must have been on something, they just went crazy."

Both victims were taken to hospital with stab wounds.

The man had a cut on his throat while the woman was stabbed in the head.

It's understood one person was taken into custody.

A spokeswoman for the Hawke's Bay Hospital said both victims were in the emergency department being assessed on Friday night.

One local resident said the area was a troubled one, frequented by police.

"It's a s***hole, I'm sick of it, I want to move."

He said the housing complex was a "shocker" for drugs and alcohol.

"This is not the first time they [police] have been here and won't be the last either."

A man who walks in the area said he was not surprised about the seemingly random attack.

"You put a bunch of low-decile people together in a housing complex, what do you expect will happen?" he said.

"But the Government don't care."

Another neighbour said the victim was "a good guy" who kept an eye out for people on the street, making sure "no one was lurking around".

"If he saw someone in his backyard he wouldn't have put up with that."

An elderly woman who was at home at the time of the incident said she was often scared when she was in her home.

The 62-year-old resident said she had seen her street decay during the past two decades.

"This used to be a lovely area for children being right by the schools, but now I find myself quite frightened by some of the things that go on."

She said her family were trying to find a more suitable residence for her.

Police declined to comment on the incident on Friday.