Three charged after householder bashed with steel bar

Police make a detailed check of the area of the Mt Maunganui property at which a man was bashed by burglars. Picture / Alan Gibson

Police last night charged a man and two women following a brutal assault in which a Mt Maunganui businessman was smashed over the head with a steel bar as he confronted burglars at his home.

The 47-year-old received skull fractures in the attack and had his Jaguar car stolen as he tried to stop the three loading property into another car parked down his driveway.

The assault, which police say was "particularly vicious", happened when the man and his partner arrived home at 10pm on Wednesday to find the burglars at their Sunbrae Place house.

The man was flown to Auckland Hospital and admitted to intensive care, but was last night listed as comfortable and stable and had been moved to a ward.

He was knocked unconscious after getting out of his Jaguar to confront a man who was loading property into a red vehicle parked in his driveway.

As he confronted the man, he was hit over the head with a steel bar.

His partner ran into the house and called police as the burglars attempted a hasty escape, made more difficult by the fact the blue Jaguar was blocking the long, narrow driveway.

The burglars rammed the Jaguar backwards down the driveway, then drove it and the red car away.

The man's partner saw a woman with blonde hair in the red car.

Police found the red car late yesterday afternoon at an undisclosed location, and were speaking to a man found with it.

Last night police arrested two women.

They also recovered the Jaguar and all the property stolen from the house. Property was found at "a number of different addresses" in the area but it was unlikely there would be any further arrests.

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Turner, head of Tauranga's Criminal Investigation Bureau, condemned those responsible for the crime and particularly the attack.

"It's been a particularly vicious assault on a male in his late 40s. He has significant skull fractures and he is lucky to be alive."

Mr Turner said both victims were "extremely traumatised".

It was unknown if the burglary was a random attack or if the house was targeted.

"The indications are that the offending vehicle was spotted in the street earlier in the night by neighbours and that indicates watching of at least addresses in that street," Mr Turner said.

Neighbours in the beachfront street yesterday expressed shock and sympathy for the injured man.

"He's always very nicely dressed," one woman said. "He always waved to me."

The woman, who did not want to be named, said she saw the burglars making their getaway.

"I heard a skidding and opened my window and this car was speeding away."

No alarm was heard during the burglary, despite the house having an alarm.

The man is the director of two companies, and his partner co-directs one of them.

They moved into the house, which is one back from the beach, about two years ago, neighbours said.

* A 26-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, both of Papamoa were arrested with a 20-year-old Hastings woman. All are unemployed and are to appear in the Tauranga District Court charged with aggravated wounding, burglary and the unlawful taking of a motor vehicle.