Schoolgirl gagged and bound in scissors attack

By KELLY BLANCHARD A teenage girl has been gagged, bound and blindfolded by three attackers who also cut her hair and shredded her school uniform, police say.
The 14-year-old girl managed to escape from her attackers but police fear the girl could have been subjected to more sinister sexual offending.
The Western Heights High School student missed her school bus on Wednesday afternoon and was walking to a friend's house to arrange a ride along Fairview Rd around 5.30pm.
Police said when she passed three young men on the corner of Fairview and Gordon Rds, one of them asked if he could kiss her.
The girl said no but the young men chased after her. The girl ran through a reserve off Fairview Rd that borders Western Heights Kindergarten.
Police said the young men, described as aged between 15 and 17, caught up to her and dragged her about 30m to the children's playground in the reserve. They used her long white socks to tie back her hands, gag and blindfold her.
The young men then used scissors or a sharp knife to cut about 10cm off the bottom of her hair and shredded the skirt of her school uniform.
Before anything else could happen, the girl heard a man nearby whistling to his dog.
Police believe the sound of the man must have disturbed the three young men as they ran off. The girl managed to free herself and ran from the reserve on to Fairview Rd.
When she reached Kaitao Intermediate School, she hid behind a concrete wall until 7pm, too petrified to go and get help.
Detective Lehi Hohaia said the girl had frozen, not knowing what to do as she was distraught about what had happened to her. She was also too embarrassed to go to any nearby houses for help because her skirt had been cut so badly.
Mr Hohaia said police were extremely worried about the nature of the attack, saying if it wasn't for the man running his dog, the girl could have been sexually assaulted.
``This is such a nasty attack. We really need the public to help us out on this one.''
Mr Hohaia said police wanted to hear from the man running his dog in the reserve at around 5.30pm or any motorists who passed the girl running away from the reserve along Fairview Rd.
Police also wanted to hear from anyone who had seen the three men. The girl described one of them as wearing cargo pants and a black hoodie. Anyone with information can pass it on to police by calling Mr Hohaia on (07) 349 9423 or 0800 TIPOFF.
Meanwhile, Tokoroa police are still trying to piece together what happened to a five-year-old girl who was kidnapped on Monday at 3.30pm on her way home from school. The girl was dropped off three hours later seemingly unharmed. The man was driving a small red car.