Stabbing victim, 69, traumatised by attack

The spate of stabbings in Northland appear to be unrelated.

A Whangarei man in his 60s is traumatised and recovering in hospital from multiple stab wounds after he was attacked while having an evening stroll in the city.

The attack is one of three major crimes involving a knife in Whangarei in three days and Whangarei police are appealing for public help after the 69-year-old man was stabbed multiple times on Saturday night.

The man was late yesterday in Whangarei Hospital in a stable condition with multiple knife wounds after police say he was stabbed by at least one assailant in a park on Riverside Drive, Whangarei. However, police said he was still too traumatised to make a statement or give a description of who attacked him.

A detective said the man, who had been wearing a distinctive yellow raincoat, had been walking towards town along Riverside Drive between 6pm and 6.45pm on Saturday. She said as the man was walking through the small riverside park just past the Riverside Drive Marina he was attacked and stabbed several times.

Police are appealing for help in finding his attacker or attackers. They did not know if the man was the victim of a random attack, or if he had been targeted.

"He is still quite traumatised and confused by the whole experience and very fearful," the detective said. "We will be speaking to him again [today] to get a more accurate picture of what happened."

Police inquiries are continuing and officers will also be looking through CCTV footage from the area to see if the attacker can be spotted.

The detective said anybody who may have seen the man walking on Riverside Drive before the attack, or who may have seen anybody acting suspiciously in the area around that time, to get in touch. Also, if anybody found a knife in or around the Town Basin and Riverside Drive area, they are to contact police immediately.

The stabbing was the third major crime to involve a knife in Whangarei in just over three days, but there is no evidence the three incidents are linked.

A Whangarei pizza-delivery man is too terrified to go to work after he was robbed at knifepoint on Wednesday. The aggravated robbery was one of two in Whangarei within hours of each other in which victims were held up at knifepoint. The robber was described as a male Maori, of slim build and about 1.7m tall.

He was wearing a cap, a black bandanna, a blue tracksuit top and white-soled sport shoes.

Earlier in the day, police were called to an aggravated robbery in which a 23-year-old woman walking through Tawera Park near the skate bowl, about 4.30pm, was confronted by a man with a knife. He took her cellphone and credit cards.

The robber then ran through the park towards Maunu Rd and was last seen near the hospital. The man was described as dark-skinned, of medium build, and about 1.65m tall, wearing a blue hoodie, with the hood up, and black sunglasses.

Information on Saturday's stabbing, or any of the other knife crimes can be passed on to Whangarei police on 4304500, or anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.