'Like a missile' - driver's terror as beer can hurled at car

A bloodied and frightened Mary Loader after being hit by the bottle. Photo / Tauranga Police

A woman whose harrowing ordeal is the subject of an email doing the rounds in the Bay of Plenty has come forward confirming a can of beer was thrown at her car, "so hard it was like a missile".

The story has emerged as local police hunt for the person responsible for throwing a partially full beer bottle at Papamoa grandmother Mary Loader, leaving the 65-year-old with horrific facial injuries.

The woman featuring in the email, who wished to be known only as Robyn, was driving a friend home in Otumoetai early on March 28 when a man standing by a car that had earlier overtaken her hurled a can at her car, breaking the frame around the vehicle's passenger window.

"We're very lucky, if the can had come through the window, it would have hit her [Robyn's friend] in the head," she said.

"It was thrown with absolute force.

"I think that had we stopped, we may have been attacked.

"It's just very sad that people can't go out at night."

Tauranga police Senior Sergeant Ross Bielby confirmed the incident had been reported to police, but said without a registration number or description of the vehicle it was difficult to find those responsible.

Police, meanwhile, have offered immunity from prosecution to any youths who come forward with information about who threw the beer bottle which hit Mrs Loader.

She was seriously hurt when a bottle of beer was thrown from a car on Sunday morning as she walked on Domain Rd in Tauranga.

She had several titanium plates inserted in her face to stabilise broken bones. She was taken off a ventilator but was still in intensive care in Tauranga Hospital after doctors put her into a coma to help her recover.

An anonymous caller gave police a nickname of the alleged offender and a street where the person lived, but police said they needed to speak to the caller again.

Detective Sergeant Darryl Brazier from Tauranga CIB said if the caller was in the car but did not hurl the missile they would not be prosecuted if they gave police the thrower's name.

"We have got a specific street and we will be making some inquiries to see what we can find there.

"This person who rang clearly knows more and we really need to talk with that person again."

- APN