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An unprovoked attack on a 9-year-old girl in an Auckland hotel toilet has left the young girl bruised and sobbing – and her mother fearing the city is no longer safe for children.
Police have confirmed they are investigating following the “altercation” at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Wednesday evening, which left the young girl with extensive facial bruising.
The girl said a teenage girl barged into the toilet she was using, locked the door, covered her mouth with her hand and began punching her head and face and grabbing her neck.
Her mother told the Herald the pair had been dining at the Japanese restaurant Ten-hana on the hotel’s ground floor on Albert St, when her daughter decided to use a toilet across the lobby. The pair – who are holidaying in New Zealand – had dined there several times and found the environment safe and friendly, so her mother let her go by herself.
But minutes later, the young girl returned, crying, saying she had been punched in the face. The Herald has seen photos of her injuries, with bruises around her forehead, eyes and mouth.
The pair immediately returned to the toilet where they found two females who said they were sisters. The younger, who looked 13-15, admitted punching the 9-year-old, who she claimed had embarrassed her by walking into her cubicle.
“I explained that perhaps the door wasn’t locked and [my daughter] entered accidentally, but said that was no reason to punch a child,” her mother said. Another woman also joined in her defence, before the trio left, saying there was no need to call police.
But the 9-year-old then revealed to her mother the roles were reversed – after trying the door several times, the teenager had burst into the toilet she was using and locked them both in.
When the girl politely asked to get out, the teen covered the young girl’s mouth, and despite her crying and struggling, began punching her head and face. She tried to escape by ducking down but the teen kept grabbing her neck and covering her mouth, the girl’s mother said.
When the older sister opened the door, the girl fled back to the restaurant in tears.
On hearing her daughter’s account, the mother called police, who photographed the young girl’s bruises and took the pair home. Hotel cameras had captured the sisters arguing with the mother and daughter after the event, the mother said, and she understood police had the footage.
‘We hope this never happens to another New Zealand child’
The girl was born in New Zealand and, while they have moved back to China, the mother’s homeland, the pair return each winter to visit friends and see the country.
But now her mother fears it’s no longer safe in Auckland for children.
“We don’t know the attacker’s motivation or what we can do for the rest of our holiday. We believe this is a dangerous situation and hope society becomes more aware of the potential dangers,” she said.
The child said a teenager locked her into the bathroom and started attacking her.
A police spokesperson said they were “following lines of inquiry following a reported altercation in a bathroom at a central Auckland hotel, about 5pm on August 7”.
St John has been contacted for comment.
The incident is the latest in a string of attacks on people of Asian descent in Auckland.
A recent immigrant to New Zealand was traumatised this week after allegedly getting attacked by a group of children on a bus in Auckland on a route now notorious for recent racist and anti-social incidents.
Two other racially abusive incidents have happened on Auckland’s buses in the past two months, with one woman filmed going on a racist and violent rant on the same bus route, No 70, in July and another woman allegedly beating a schoolboy with a metal pole in June. Both women have been charged by police.
