Women's group helps victim

Wings co-ordinator Liane Blair was outside the building when she heard a commotion across the street. Photo / File

Being confronted with a bloodied, disoriented man was not what a group of 30 Whangarei women were expecting at their monthly meeting.

A man with a bloodied mouth and wearing a black jacket and jeans appeared at the entrance to the Whangarei Club building on Rust Ave shortly after 9pm on Wednesday.

He remained in Whangarei Hospital in a stable condition yesterday.

Members of the Women's International Newcomers Group ( Wings) were wrapping up their monthly meeting when the man stumbled up the ramp entrance saying he had been assaulted.

Wings co-ordinator Liane Blair was outside the building when she heard a commotion across the street.

"I just thought, oh, there's people around. I thought he was talking to someone else ... next thing I knew he was on the ramp."

Wings member Angie Harvey called emergency services, and then passed her phone to the man, who spoke to police.

"He just said 'Can you help me?'. He said he had been attacked by four people five minutes earlier."

There were about 30 women still in the building after the meeting, where members had just heard from guest speakers and watched a display of Latin dance.

Ms Blair described the man as slim, Maori, and quite faint and weak, with blood through his teeth.

"He had two bandages on his face, one was ripped off. I asked him when did he get them, and he said 'today'."

That led her to initially question the man's claim that he had been assaulted.

"I thought at first, is this a set up? Then we called the police and brought him in to sit down."

About eight of the women remained with the man until police and ambulance arrived within about 10 minutes.

The incident didn't look good for the several new members of her group, who were recent arrivals to Whangarei, Ms Blair said.

"I had to tell them 'This doesn't normally happen'."

Whangarei police Detective Senior Sergeant Dene Begbie said a 36-year-old man was walking through Forum North carpark about 9pm on Wednesday, when he was assaulted by four men who demanded money from him.

Officers were also investigating an aggravated robbery at Onerahi Foodmart at about 6.30pm on Wednesday.

Mr Begbie said two men entered the Old Onerahi Rd store armed with weapons.

They demanded money and cigarettes from the two store owners - a man aged 29 and a 22-year-old woman.

Police say the woman handed over the items, before one of the offenders struck the male store owner with a weapon.

He was taken to Whangarei Hospital with a head injury and released yesterday morning.