Cabbie crashes van into house during attack

Police say it was lucky no one at the house was hurt after this van crashed into it. Picture / Counties Manukau Police

A South Auckland taxi driver has been left with severe bruising and his neck in a brace after crashing his van into a house while being violently attacked by three passengers.

The 56-year-old man, too scared to be identified, told the Herald he picked three young men up from an Otara taxi stand at about 9.30 on Tuesday night. Two sat in the back seat and the third climbed in the front passenger seat.

The men asked to be driven to Gaye Cres in Otara but when the driver got there and asked for a street number they told him to keep going.

On reaching Bentley Rd the driver became suspicious but before he could act he felt a string around his neck. "I think it was string but all I knew it was tight enough for me to worry about it."

"All this guy said when he tied the string tight was 'don't do something stupid'."

The front seat passenger then started hitting him about the upper body and head with a wooden object.

"I was panicking, I thought these three guys, I don't know what they are going to do."

With his head pulled right back the driver's foot hit the accelerator. At the same time the front-seat passenger was trying to grab the wheel.

The taxi clipped a ute parked on the side of the road before speeding up a grassy hill and crashing into a house.

The back-seat passengers ran off but the man in the front got out and hit him again before running off.

The driver, bleeding from the head and aching from where the steering wheel hit his chest, went into the house where a woman rang for help.

Police say it was lucky no one was outside the house or sitting on the back steps because they would have been hurt in the crash.

Detective Sergeant Karyn Malthus, from the Otara CIB said: "It's a reckless act by these offenders who are quite probably after money.

"Not only have they caused a crash but they could have injured other people - they could have seriously hurt this man, even killed him by throttling him."

The driver spent a night in hospital and could be off work for a month.

Ms Malthus said the passengers were last seen running off down Bentley Rd and Gaye Crescent. They are described as male Polynesians, aged 18-20, of skinny build and wearing dark, hooded sweatshirts.

Anyone with information about the men is requested to phone Constable Paul Scott at the Otara Police Station 272 0915.