Police forensic teams at the house where the two alleged offenders were located near Bexley Reserve, Christchurch. Photo / George Heard
Police forensic teams at the house where the two alleged offenders were located near Bexley Reserve, Christchurch. Photo / George Heard
The family of a man allegedly stabbed multiple times while walking his dog have expressed their “gratitude” to the community.
Police officers swooped on two homes on Corhampton St, Aranui, after the assault on Wednesday.
The properties are about 500m from Bexley Reserve, where the stabbed man was found critically injured on Monday morning.
Bailey Messervy, 18, appeared in the Christchurch District Court on Thursday morning facing a charge of wounding the victim with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He was remanded in custody without plea until December 7.
A 23-year-old woman has been charged with being an accessory after the fact. She appeared in court on Friday.
The Herald understands the victim, who has interim name suppression, was walking his dog in Bexley Reserve when he had a brief exchange of words with a motorist about their driving in the reserve.
It’s alleged the man was then stabbed multiple times.
The man was stabbed multiple times while walking at Bexley Reserve. Photo / George Heard
On Friday a police spokesperson said the man remained in hospital in a critical condition.
“The family of the victim of the assault wish to express their gratitude to the members of the community whose information helped police make two arrests and lay charges.
“They would also like to thank police and the medical staff at Christchurch Hospital.”
The Herald earlier spoke with a local dog walker who had left the house with her dog for her usual morning walk, shortly after 5.45am.
At the time, she said, no emergency service vehicles were in sight on Pages Rd - where the entrance to the reserve is.
Walking past the entrance, she saw a woman sitting next to a man lying on the ground, appearing to comfort him. Two dogs were in the car at that stage.
“She kept saying ‘it’s okay, it’s okay’, - initially I thought it was personal, so I planned on doing my walk which takes 15 minutes, and checking on them when I got back,” she said.
By the time she returned, police and ambulance crew were at the scene of the incident and told her to immediately go home.
