Grandmother tries to quell armed attack in carpark

A 76-year-old grandmother stepped in to try to defuse an armed brawl that broke out in a carpark outside a Northland shopping centre yesterday.

The drama began shortly after 9am at the Onerahi shopping centre when a car tried to park next to a van.

Muriel Sexton, who is a Maori warden, was in the car with her two sons and grandson and was paying some bills before heading into central Whangarei.

When the car she was in pulled up alongside the van, the van driver's door was open, preventing them from parking.

A man in her vehicle yelled at the driver to shut the door and then a verbal argument broke out.

"Eventually they shut the door and I thought it was all over so I went into the post office to pay my power bill."

However, the verbal altercation escalated into a physical attack.

One man had a wheel brace and another a set of bolt cutters.

"I tried to stop them and tried to get in between but they just went round me," Mrs Sexton said.

She asked someone to run to the nearby police station and get help.

There was no one there so he ran back and told a shop owner to call police.

Meanwhile, a man, aged in his 40s, was allegedly struck over the head with a wheel brace and was bleeding.

The rear window of the van was smashed, as was the rear passenger's window of the car.

Senior Sergeant Neil Pennington said three men had been arrested.

Two were facing charges of assault with a weapon and disorderly behaviour and a third was charged with wilful damage and disorderly behaviour.

They will appear in the Whangarei District Court next week.