Wounded police officer 'on the mend'

A Tauranga police officer who was attacked while trying to quell a drunken after-party riot at suburban Welcome Bay earlier this month is recuperating well at home.

"She will make a full recovery," Tauranga area commander, Inspector Murray Lewis, said today.

He did not know when the young constable would be back at work. There were early concerns from senior colleagues that the woman was going to be "very ill for a very long time".

She was admitted to Tauranga Hospital's intensive care unit just over two weeks ago with a fractured skull, shoulder and nose after allegedly being hit with a metal wheel rim.

The officer, who has been granted interim name suppression by the district court while she recovers, was discharged from hospital after about a week.

Judge Christopher Harding said last week the policewoman was unlikely to have a permanent right to privacy because she was a public servant, injured in the course of her duties.

Police requests not to name her publicly on the grounds of her state of health, ongoing treatment and privacy were "tenuous at best", the judge said.

He has allowed the suppression of her name and that of a man alleged to have caused her injuries to remain in effect until February 8, when the interim orders will expire without full and formal arguments by police and the defendant's lawyer.

The man, who has been granted bail, is charged with causing grievous bodily harm and assault.

This morning, another man allegedly involved in the Welcome Bay disorder was further remanded on bail when he made a brief appearance in the Tauranga District Court.

Steven Waru Anderson, aged 39, of Hamilton, has not entered pleas to charges of assaulting, resisting and hindering police and injuring with intent.

His lawyer, Bill Nabney, told Judge Russell Callander he had not yet received disclosure from police, who have now completed their investigation of the January 8 early morning disturbance.

Anderson was excused attendance at a registrar's hearing on February 2, when his lawyer will represent him at the setting of a new court date.

Another six men are due back before a judge tomorrow on rioting counts arising from the Welcome Bay fracas which followed a 21st birthday party. All are on bail.

- NZPA