KEY POINTS:
When bleeding North Shore attack victim Ericka Rancourt saw her boyfriend lying on the ground surrounded by a pile of thick white stuff she thought he was dead.
"I sat up and looked over and Oskar was lying there. I thought he was dead. He had a big pile of vomit around him, but I thought it was his brains," she said.
"I started freaking out."
The 21-year-old Takapuna resident and her 25-year-old boyfriend, Oskar Carroll, were walking home along Lake Rd when they were attacked about 2am and left unconscious.
They were found by a motorist who called for help and both were taken to hospital with serious head injuries, including bleeding on the brain and brain swelling.
The couple last night spoke out, saying the attack was cowardly, and pleaded with people not to see the North Shore as a dangerous place to visit.
"I just think they are pathetic, that's the best way to put it really," Mr Carroll said last night of his attackers and their cowardly actions.
"It's one thing getting beaten up and having a brawl but it's another thing going out and looking for people. I didn't even have a chance to defend her [Ms Rancourt]."
Ms Rancourt said: "The Shore's such a safe place ... I don't want it to change - I don't want people to think it's dangerous because of four dickheads."
Neither can remember what happened, but police say four men pulled up in a car and attacked them with a metal bat.
It was the second vicious attack allegedly committed by the group in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Mr Carroll thinks he was hit from behind because of the nature of his injuries, which include a skull fracture behind his ear and cuts to his ear.
Police say the the attack - like three others allegedly committed by the group - was unprovoked.
Mr Carroll said robbery clearly wasn't a motive. His wallet and cellphone weren't taken, and although Ms Rancourt's bag was taken the only thing missing from it was $20. Her iPod was left behind.
Mr Carroll has been discharged from hospital but has been told it could take him six months to recover from his head injuries.
Ms Rancourt had surgery to remove a piece of her skull from her swollen brain, and remains in Auckland City Hospital.
She was also hit on the jaw and arm which has left bruising on the inside of her mouth and her inner arm.
She is to have further tests to see if her jawbone has been cracked.
The young woman, who should have been at her 21st birthday party tonight, said she had walked home along Lake Rd from her job at the Lone Star restaurant for several years.
She thought the area was safe, but doesn't know how she will feel about walking along there at night in the future.
"I don't want to change my habits but it's hard not to think about it."
