KEY POINTS:
A Whangarei Heads volunteer surf lifeguard is in hospital with a broken neck after an alleged bashing at the hands of four youths.
James Bidois was patrolling Ocean Beach at about 3.50pm on Sunday when he was beaten so badly his neck was shattered.
The incident has shocked senior lifeguard officials who say it is the first attack on a lifeguard they know of in New Zealand.
The father of four was scheduled to have surgery yesterday to fit a traction device - a metal ring held in place by bolts into the skull and a supporting frame - to immobilise his neck.
Doctors say the 48-year-old builder will stay in hospital until the end of the week and will wear the device for at least three months while his neck heals.
His 20-year-old son Sam arrived half an hour after the attack.
"He was in the sick bay at the club. He was getting sorted out but he was real dozy and had a cut under his eye," he said.
"I just wanted to find the guys who did it."
It is understood the youths were speaking to a trainee lifeguard when they were approached by Mr Bidois, who has been a lifeguard at the beach for five years.
Sam said the news had shocked him, his 17-year-old brother and his two sisters aged 14 and 12.
"I just want to know why this happened . It's never happened before. Why was Dad targeted?"
Sam was scheduled to take his siblings to Whangarei Hospital last night after the operation. The injured man's wife, Susan, had been at her husband's bedside, only returning home to sleep.
Whangarei Heads Surf Life saving Club president Rod Boswell described the assault as "an horrific but entirely isolated incident".
"It's a shocking situation to have happen on the beach. I've spent a big part of my life lifeguarding. This is the first time I've ever had this kind of thing happen."
Mr Boswell said he was worried young volunteers could be frightened off wanting to become lifesavers.
"This could be totally damaging to our club.
"Our concern at the moment is to offer him and his family the support they need, and also to support other, especially younger, club members.
"We'll work out from a club point of view what happened, and work out protocols that might prevent our members being put in the same situation.
"My instructions when we're training guards is that we're to assist and advise, not instruct. We try and keep things non- confrontational."
Mr Boswell would wait for the official club report and talk to club members and other witnesses. There would then be a debriefing and counselling would be offered to younger lifeguards.
Surf Life Saving New Zealand chief executive Geoff Barry said in his 30 years of lifeguarding, he had never heard of an assault on a guard.
"Generally speaking the public are very respectful of lifeguards.
"In this situation they have taken a pretty aggressive stance and there is no excuse. Hopefully the people involved will get their just desserts."
An 18-year-old Tikipunga man appeared in the Whangarei District Court yesterday charged with assault and was remanded to reappear later this month.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
