University of Otago students upset at assaults by non-students

Hyde St residents Alex Collier (21), Josh Macaulay (19) and Scott Weir (21) say non-students are coming on to their street and looking for fights. Photo, OTD, Gregor Richardson.

Students living on a notorious party street are calling on troublemakers to stay away after four students were seriously assaulted by non-students.

Police attended four separate assaults, in Hyde, Dundas and Castle Sts - including one in which a male student suffered a broken nose after being hit in the head with a bottle - early on Sunday.

Another male student was admitted to hospital with a broken jaw, after a king hit.

University of Otago proctor Dave Scott said yesterday the university was ''extremely concerned'' about non-students causing trouble in the student area.

Students in Hyde St yesterday said it was common for non-students, including patched gang members, to come into the street looking for fights.

Alex Collier said this week someone in the street had been stabbed with a screwdriver and another person had been beaten up.

''It's always non-students because they can just come here and do what they want without repercussions,'' he said.

The problem would be difficult to stop and troublemakers would continue to be drawn to the street as long as there were ''still students here''.

Josh Macaulay said non-street residents were also often responsible for the broken glass and other mess.

Students from another flat, who declined to be named, called on troublemakers to stay away.

''No-one on this street is going out here looking for fights, so why would they come here?''

One said students in the street did their best to look out for each other and kept a lookout for ''dodgy'' behaviour.

Mr Scott said the incidents followed others involving non-students in the student quarter.

''There are other examples this year of secondary school students coming into the student quarter and acting in an antisocial manner.

''We are extremely concerned about the situation where non-students are coming into the student area, apparently for the sole purpose of randomly seriously assaulting students,'' he said.

The proctor's office was working with police to identify and hold the offenders to account, Mr Scott said.

The assaults showed the ''potential value'' of CCTV in keeping people safe, he said.

''The university has invested heavily in this area in recent years with the introduction of Campus Watch and CCTV initiatives.''

A police spokesman said it was too early to tell if the assaults were connected, but police believed two assaults in Hyde St were carried out by the same offenders.

- Additional reporting by Vaughan Elder