Two different families with young children were abused by beggars in public carparks at Central Mall and McDonald's in Rotorua. Photo / Mead Norton
Two different families with young children were abused by beggars in public carparks at Central Mall and McDonald's in Rotorua. Photo / Mead Norton
Two families have spoken out after abusive beggars in Rotorua carparks made their children cry when they didn't give them food, cigarettes or money.
One of the mothers involved in what were described as "terrifying" situations said, in her opinion, things would not improve until the homeless no longer livedin motels around the Fenton St area.
Hayley Hindle, her husband and three children aged one, three and six headed to Rotorua Central about 1pm on Saturday, July 23.
When their youngest child fell asleep, they decided to get Burger King takeaways and eat it in their car in the carpark between Burger King and The Warehouse, to allow the child to have an afternoon nap.
Hindle said within five minutes, a man came up and asked for money, food or cigarettes.
"My six-year-old started crying and said 'I want to go home'."
Hindle said she was left feeling angry and shocked so they drove home without doing their shopping.
"I couldn't believe within 10 minutes we had two people begging and abusing us."
She moved to Rotorua six years ago and during those earlier years worked in the central city and had lunch in her car plenty of times.
"I never had anything like this then. You should be able to sit in your car safely."
Their ordeal followed another frightening incident for Hindle on Pukuatua St outside the Salvation Army store a week prior when a man, whom she described as "clearly being high on drugs", was yelling and screaming before thumping his fists on the bonnet of a car next to her.
"I not going to bother coming to town now. It makes you want to move. We have got all these young children... it's terrifying for them."
She felt sad and embarrassed for Rotorua especially when friends and family came to visit and asked where was a good place to stay.
"I can't see how it will ever go back to what it was unless these motels are returned to tourists."
Kellie Clarke was leaving McDonald's on Tuesday, July 26 at 11.30am with her two children aged four and two, when she was approached by a woman in the carpark as she was buckling her children in her car.
The woman said "please help me" and asked for spare change.
When Clarke apologised and said "no sorry", the woman declared she would kill herself if she didn't give her anything.
"I was trying to role model compassion to my children but she was clearly not right and unwell."
In shock, Clarke tried to calmly ask if she could call anyone to help but the woman started getting abusive and swore and demanded to know why she wouldn't help.
"I was really concerned for my kids. I was thinking 'what is this town coming to, should I be sending my kids to school here?'"
Clarke said yelling was a "trigger" for her four-year-old and she started to cry.
"It's a sad day when you can't take your kids to McDonald's at 11.30am on a Tuesday."
Clarke said she and her husband were "absolutely considering" leaving Rotorua.
"We are looking at different options with the kids starting school soon. It's hard to defend Rotorua when it is what it is. I've always loved it here, it's so central to so many things and there's always so much to do for families but is that all worth it if you're going to be abused at every corner?"
McDonald's Rotorua franchise owner Rob Parry. Photo / Kelly Makiha
Rotorua McDonald's franchise owner Rob Parry said they had Watchdog Security on call and they responded quickly to such behaviour if it was spotted on their CCTV cameras or reported.
He said often police were too busy to deal with everything so their only option was to trespass the offenders.
"But they will try and come back. It's like the tide at the moment, we can't stop it."
Parry said it came in "clusters" but it had seemed to have gotten worse recently.
"It's one of those things we have to deal with a bit longer it seems."
Pukeroa Oruawhata Trust chief executive officer Mark Gibb said they employed security to patrol the Central Mall carpark and had extensive CCTV cameras.
He said if anti-social behaviour was reported they acted promptly and would trespass them if required, but that rarely happened.
Gibb said based on the number of people at the mall, anti-social incidences were "relatively infrequent".
"A safe customer experience is paramount to Rotorua Central Mall. Steps we have taken around site security and low reported incidents support the success of this position."
