Knife attacks: Auckland hospitals patch up 1750 stabbing victims in four years

A woman was brutally stabbed to death in Massey on July 29. Her ex-husband has been charged with murder. Photo / Dean Purcell

At least one Aucklander is knifed every day, with the city's hospitals patching up more than 1750 stabbing injuries in under four years.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and the city's police are concerned by the figures, which come amid a surge in gun violence linked to organised crime and drug trafficking.

And while cutting and stabbing assaults are up slightly across Auckland, police say the number of serious assaults is tracking down.

"Any idiot can use a knife," Tāmaki Makaurau police deployment manager Inspector Dave Glossop told the Herald.

Figures released under the Official Information Act from the city's three district health boards show blade victims suffered more than 1750 cutting injuries from the beginning of 2016 to September 2019.

The treatment cost to taxpayers was more than $10 million.

Manchao Li (middle) appears at Waitakere District Court charged with murdering his ex-wife on Westgate Drive, Massey in July 2019. Photo / Dean Purcell

Among the victims was a woman brutally stabbed to death on Westgate Drive in Massey on July 29. Her ex-husband Manchao Li has been charged with murder.

Another victim, Crystal Tupou, 19, suffered critical injuries when she was stabbed 16 times in broad daylight on Anzac Avenue, central Auckland, in November 2018 after her former partnerused a fake Facebook account to lure her to a meeting.

Crystal Tupou, 19, was stabbed 16 times by her ex-boyfriend in central Auckland after he lured into the city using a fake Facebook account. Photo / Supplied

And a young man remained in hospital yesterday after being stabbed twice in the driveway of a Manurewa home on Sunday evening.

Two friends bundled the heavily bleeding man into a car after the attack and raced him across the city in a desperate bid to save his life.

The alarming stabbing figures follow a spate of shootings in South Auckland which have left at least eight people dead since December 2018 and many others fighting for their life.

Nearly 150 shooting victims have been admitted to the city's hospitals in less than four years, the Herald revealed in December, with frontline police seizing more than 600 firearms in less than a year.

The violence has sparked calls for a crackdown on gangs and a plea from police for the public to take a stand against illegal activity.

While Middlemore Hospital has dealt with most of the shooting injuries, Auckland City Hospital has seen the majority of Auckland's stabbing victims, with 1304 treated by medical staff since January 2016, at a total cost of $8.3m.

Counties Manukau DHB recorded 360 stabbing injuries during the same period costing $2.5m and Waitematā DHB recorded 79 with no cost breakdown provided.

Auckland DHB chief executive Ailsa Claire told the Herald the figures included violent assault injuries where "the victim was stabbed using razor blade, knife, and glass and other unspecified objects".

"The cohort of the people who inflicted injury involves family members, friends and domestic partners."

STAB

The injury figures included intentional self harm and "undetermined intent", Claire said.

The DHB's 1304 recorded injuries included some patients admitted multiple times.

The average cost of treating stabbing injuries at Auckland DHB was $7800 per patient.

The DHB declined to comment on why its stabbing figures were so high or what effect they had on services and resources.

But a spokeswoman noted it was a regional 24/7 trauma centre for patients around Auckland and Northland, meaning many of the most serious trauma cases were directed to Auckland Hospital.

Counties Manukau chief executive Fepulea'i Margie Apa said the DHB's figures included all stabbing injuries from any cause, "not only those from violence".

Glossop said the number of stabbing injuries showed knives were readily available.

Police deployment manager Inspector Dave Glossop says the number of serious assaults across the city are tracking down. Photo / Jason Oxenham.

"There's no wrong way to use a knife."

Firearms, meanwhile, were less accessible and more complicated weapons to use.

There were far more assaults committed using blunt objects like bats or sticks, which were "your real weapon of opportunity", Glossop said.

The number of stabbings across the city was concerning and police would examine why Auckland DHB figures were so high.

Goff said the city was generally a safe place to live and visit but the spike in shootings was a big concern.

"It creates insecurity in the parts of the city where it is concentrated, and much of it is clearly connected with organised crime and drug trafficking."

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says gangs and drug trafficking are behind a surge in gun violence across Auckland. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Goff said he had raised concerns about the increasing violence with central Government. The council was focused on helping to tackle the underlying causes of young people being recruited into gangs.

Any death or serious injury from gang violence was unacceptable and required a strong response from the Government, police and the community, Goff said.