KEY POINTS:
Police are hunting for two, possibly three, people in connection with a vicious attack on an elderly man in Auckland and a home invasion in the Bay of Plenty.
They last night made an urgent appeal for sightings of two cars stolen during the crimes, which left Three Kings 78-year-old Austen Bell with a fractured eye socket, and a farmer from Otakiri, near Edgecumbe, nursing black eyes and a broken jaw.
It is understood the farmer was tied up and had a blindfold put over his head before he was beaten in the home invasion early yesterday.
In both cases, the victims were punched repeatedly before their vehicles were stolen. It is not known if the offenders are armed, but police say they are on the run and dangerous.
"I would classify them as high-risk offenders, who will reoffend," Detective Sergeant Ross Everest of Whakatane told the Herald.
Police believed at least one of those responsible for the home invasion was in Taupo about three hours after the crime, and Mr Everest urged people throughout the North Island to be on the lookout for the two stolen vehicles.
The first, a 1995 silver Nissan Camino, was taken from Mr Bell as he left Three Kings Foodtown on Sunday night. The 78-year-old was punched twice by a single attacker and left lying unconscious in a pool of blood.
The second vehicle, a red 2000 Holden ute, was stolen from the farmer when he was assaulted at his home on Grieve Rd at 2.15am yesterday.
Police said two men burst into the house and punched and kicked him, using their fists and possibly boots.
It is understood the farmer woke after hearing people running through the building. No one else was at home, but police suspect a third offender may have been standing outside while the two men, described as well built, attacked the farmer.
He was taken to Whakatane Hospital and Mr Everest said he was well enough to speak to police later in the morning.
The farmer remained in the hospital last night.
Police had at least one suspect thought to be involved in both crimes, but they would not name the man, who was thought to have left Auckland after the aggravated robbery of Mr Bell and committed the home invasion with at least one Bay of Plenty local.
Mr Everest said drugs, and specifically methamphetamine, was likely a factor in the crimes.
"I would say they're on the burn, on P."
