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An Auckland toddler and his parents have been attacked with baseball bats in a terrifying attack in a transitional housing room, which the family say is likely a case of mistaken identity.
A relative says three men dressed in black last night smashed their way into the family’s Oaktree Motel room in Epsom before allegedly “pummelling” the parents with bats after they dived on top of their 3-year-old son to protect him.
The midnight attack left the father and toddler with “big bruises”, while the mother has spent two nights in hospital as medical teams run tests to work out why she is going “in-and-out of consciousness”, the mother’s sister says.
Detective Senior Sergeant Ash Matthews said police were notified at 11.48pm that a serious assault had taken place yesterday.
“Police attended and learned that three men had forced entry into a room and attacked the occupants with weapons (not firearms),” he said.
“Three men, aged 19, 21 and 22, were scheduled to appear in the Auckland District Court today, charged with committing burglary with a weapon.”
The sister told the Herald, the mother was an early childhood teacher, who had recently fallen on hard times and had not been living at the motel long.
However, she had quickly become frightened by regular fights and screaming at the motel and what she believed was drug and alcohol use among neighbours.
That led her to recently ask her ex-husband to come stay in the other bed in their motel for added safety, the sister said. However, just before midnight yesterday, a knock sounded on the front door as the father was putting their son to sleep.
Going to check, the father opened the door just a little.
He saw “three men covered head to toe in black”, the sister said.
“As soon as he sees that he freaks out and slams the door shut.”
But the men began smashing their way through the motel room’s glass door.
The toddler has been discharged but his mother remains in hospital care.
The father rushed back into the room, grabbed their son and dived on top of him, while the mum also came from another bed to dive over her son and her ex.
“All she’s thinking about is protecting her son,” the sister said.
The three men then ran up to the bed and began hitting the family, she said.
“These three men have got bats and they’re just pummelling into her,” the sister said.
The attack soon caught the attention of neighbours who came out of their rooms and started yelling: “What the hell is going on?”, the woman said.
The alleged attackers then dashed from the apartment, with the father going out after them and watching as they jumped into a black Mercedes and sped away.
The sister said the incident was frightening because the group of intruders didn’t say a word, they just started hitting.
She said they don’t know them or have any idea why they came to their motel room.
The family say they have now been left terrified, with the sister asking why they were placed in the motel in the first place.
“Is their environment appropriate for young children and families who have no drug or alcohol involvement?,” she asked.
The sister said her nephew was also hit by one of the bat strikes and has bruises on his thigh and lacerations from the broken glass, with the Herald viewing a medical report listing his injuries.
The father has injuries to his arms and hands from the bats, while the mother took most of the hits.
“So she’s been hit on her back, she’s got dents on her shins, all over her legs, she can’t walk very well,” the sister said.
“Thankfully nothing is broken, the doctors said that it’s just all swelling.
But it’s “the fact that she keeps slipping in-and-out of consciousness and that she’s still in hospital” that worried the sister.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) acting general manager partnerships and performance Aimee Edwards said the Oaktree Motel is used for transitional housing.
HUD - Te Tūāpapa Kura Kāinga contracts transitional housing providers for temporary accommodation for individuals and whānau who don’t have anywhere to live and urgently need a place to stay, she said.
“Transitional housing providers also offer tailored support to help these individuals and whānau into longer-term housing. People using the transitional housing service are helped to find longer-term housing. In most cases, once they have secured a longer-term home, service providers also help them access other support, including Work and Income services, budgeting advice and health services.
“While we do not comment on specific incidents that occur in transitional housing, the welfare of whānau staying in transitional housing is of the utmost importance to us and we will continue to work with the service provider to support the family involved.”
Ben Leahy is an Auckland-based journalist covering property. He has worked as a journalist for more than a decade in India, Australia and New Zealand.
