Man arrested following spitting attack in Cornwall Park

The jogger is accused of spitting on people at the summit of One Tree Hill. Photo / Greg Bowker

A man has been arrested following a spitting attack at a popular Auckland park.

A 41-year-old man was charged with two counts of common assault following an incident at One Tree Hill in Cornwall Park shortly after 10pm last night.

A man was approached by a male jogger who allegedly spat on him. A verbal dispute followed, and a second man intervened, who was then allegedly assaulted, police said.

The accused will appear in the Auckland District Court next week.

"Police continue to work with local communities to keep public areas safe, and encourage anyone who at any point feels unsafe to contact police at the time," a spokesperson said.

The arrest comes after witness Jacinta Tamate told the Herald a jogger at the park got into a fight after he spat on another male jogger.

She said the drama started when she saw a fight break out between the two joggers.

"The other man was telling him not to spit," she said.
The calls for help by the man being attacked eventually drew a crowd, who tried to block the jogger as he headed off to continue his evening jog.

"Some people thought his eyes were rolling back, there was something wrong with him," , Tamate said.

"But I was thinking, nah, a person on drugs doesn't run around and is that fit."

People at the scene told a Herald reporter that a man had been spitting on women in Cornwall Park and potentially Mission Bay for the last month or so.

Tamate said she had been coming to Cornwall Park for 15 years and hadn't seen the jogger before - but that others gathering at the scene of the altercation said he had been regularly spitting on women over the past month.

One woman said the man had spat on her last week when she was jogging close to the summit of One Tree Hill alone close to when it was getting dark, Tamate said.

"She was a very fit woman and faster than him and she said she ran off but was telling him, 'You don't spit on women'," she said.

Others said the man - who was wearing running gear - regularly jogged around Cornwall Park in the evening, according to Tamate.