Harry Singh was beaten and robbed after winning $800 on the pokies. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Harry Singh was beaten and robbed after winning $800 on the pokies. Photo / Jason Oxenham
A man savagely beaten and stripped of his belongings after winning $800 on pokies feels the police have gone cold on the case.
New Lynn resident Harry Singh was playing on the pokie machines with a friend at Mt Eden’s Dominion Rd Gaming Lounge late last month when two unknown men jumped him in the car park, leaving him with serious injuries.
Singh's clothes and belongings were also taken in the attack. Photo / Jason Oxenham
“I had nothing on, no shoes or clothes,” Singh recalled after regaining consciousness following the attack. “I woke up in the hospital.”
Singh had spent the night of June 18 and the early hours of June 19 at the gaming lounge.
Two men inside the premises, however, were keeping a watchful eye.
“These two men, I have seen them there before, I have passed by and exchanged a hello or two. But this time when we left to walk down the stairs, they were standing a few steps below,” Singh said.
“Suddenly they jumped on me and punched me five to six times repeatedly, they knocked me to the ground.”
Harry Singh was repeatedly kicked and punched during the attack. Photo / Jason Oxenham
His friend was shocked and screamed. She was hurt when she tried to stop the aggressors.
“They did not stop. When I was on the ground they kicked me and punched me more. I don’t remember anything after that,” Singh said.
“I recall them emptying my pockets. They took money, wallet and my house keys. They did not take my car keys.”
Singh’s friend called the police and an ambulance rushed to the scene. By this time the bar staff who had closed the lounge joined her to help the injured man.
“I was in and out of consciousness. The ambulance staff took my car keys and gave them to my friend.
“Next thing I remember is lying on a hospital bed naked, no shoes or clothes.”
Singh said the violent bashing left him with a nasty black left eye, swollen right ribs and injured right arm.
“The doctors did a CT scan. I have to rest for another month to fully recover. Just now, the blackness is slowly going away.”
Singh said if the stress of physical injuries was not enough, the fear of the two men coming to his home was keeping him awake at night.
“They have my house keys. What if they come here? I am already injured, it will be hard to defend myself.
“I have spoken to police and even found out who the two attackers were. I have provided Facebook profile screenshots to officers. But I have not heard back from them. They have not located any of my belongings yet.”
“This kind of thing could happen to me or someone else.”
If the two men had asked him to give them money he would have peacefully handed it over, Singh said.
“They did not need to hurt me this badly.”
Police have been investigating after a person was critically injured by thieves in Auckland's Mt Eden on June 19. Photo / Hayden Woodward
The gaming room manager previously told the Herald that security footage showed the two men waiting in the car park for the victims to exit before violently attacking Singh.
“[Singh] got punched and hit. Police were notified.”
A police spokesperson said officers were actively investigating an aggravated robbery outside an address in Mt Eden on June 19.
“While no arrests have been made at this stage, we are currently following positive lines of enquiry, however, are unable to provide any further information so as to not compromise the ongoing investigation.”
Anyone with information can contact the police via 105 phone service or online, using Update My Report, using reference file number 230619/5936.
Information can also be provided anonymously via Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
Akula Sharma is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2022. She has previously worked at the Gisborne Herald.
