Whanganui East residents and retailers want more CCTV following incidents at shopping centre

An assault at the Whanganui Shopping Centre in 2022 left one person in Wellington Hospital in a critical condition.

Whanganui East residents and retailers are demanding better CCTV coverage at their shopping centre following a series of incidents.

A petition signed by 124 people has been delivered to Whanganui District Council, with Cobs Home Brewing owner Gilbert Roberts speaking on their behalf at a council meeting on Tuesday.

In May 2022, police were called to the scene of an assault in the area of Moana and Duncan Streets which left one person in Wellington Hospital in a critical condition. At the time, a witness said a man with a knife appeared to threaten people inside Pizza Kingdom (now Pizzicato), with a group of people then getting into an altercation with him. Roberts told councillors the man was stabbed and eventually collapsed. This week, a police spokesperson said there had been no arrests following the incident.

“The young people involved were identified and went through an alternative resolution process with Police Youth Aid.”

Police were also called to the shopping centre after a gang member began waving a machete above his head following a traffic disagreement, Roberts said.

“The Whanganui [East] Dairy had a smash-and-grab – on a side window away from the cameras.

“Now, the dairy has had to put roller doors on all the windows, which is expensive, no doubt.”

Roberts said many older people lived in the area and some feared for their safety.

The shopping centre features a range of businesses on either side of Moana St, including the Whanganui East Bakery, Lindsay’s Lotto, Technoman, Sharkey’s Barbers and Craft Cauldron. Four Square Whanganui East, Savages Bakery and Pharmacy over East are located further up Moana St on the other side of the Duncan St junction.

The petition asks for two CCTV (closed-circuit television) cameras to be installed – one outside 54 Moana St “looking down the business area” and another at 66 Moana St.

“We’re not asking for them to be monitored the whole time,” Roberts said. “If needed, the police can go back to those scenes.”

He said he was happy to form a closer relationship with police if required.

“I’m here not just for myself. I’m here for other shop owners and residents.”

He was joined in the council chamber by Whanganui East resident and interim chairman of the Whanganui Residents and Ratepayers Association, Graham Holloway.

“At the end of the day, business owners, staff and the public have got to feel safe,” Holloway said. “A lot of minor stuff goes on there as well and if we can reduce that in some way, that’s the cream on the milk.”

Council chief executive David Langford said it already had a process in place with police for new camera requests.

“We’ll put this into that process, and if it goes through, gets implemented and the camera goes up, I don’t see a need to slow things down with paperwork,” he said. “Let’s see if we can make things happen.”

Councillor Michael Law, a Whanganui East resident, said the area was growing and “with more people comes more issues”.

“I had an experience about six months ago with my boys [sons], where there was shouting and screaming and threatening behaviour,” Law said. “I’m happy to have these cameras effectively set up by police, so they know about them.”

Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.