A teenage couple bashed nearly to death in a mystery attack
in a west Auckland park last weekend cannot recall anything
of what happened, police say.
The 19-year-old man was found with a fractured skull and
bleeding to the brain in Starling Park in Swanson on Sunday
morning.
Shortly before that his 17-year-old girlfriend, with multiple
facial injuries, knocked on the door of a nearby house
pleading for help.
Police said today the injuries the pair suffered were
horrific and could easily have killed them.
Detective Sergeant Roger Small said neither could recall
details of the attack.
He said that was a common feature in bad physical assaults
and was often the body's way of protecting itself from the
emotional trauma of an event.
"It is very, very common with head injuries to lose that
short-term memory."
Both had been transferred out of hospital intensive care
wards and into medical wards.
"We are speaking to them every day. They are coming along but
they have a long way to go," Mr Small said.
He said the young woman "has got an awful lot of surgery
ahead of her and a lot of rehabilitation".
He said the man was likely to go to a specialist neurological
unit for treatment in the next few days.
The bashing came close to a homicide and on a scale of one to
10 Mr Small said he would rate the violence of the attack as
an eight.
Mr Small said police were getting good help from the public
but needed more from anyone who may have seen the couple
after they left their home in Massey about 8pm on Saturday
until they were found about 7am on Sunday.
It was possible they both lay unconscious in the park for
several hours before they were found.
Anyone with information could ring Mr Small on (90) 839 0653
or the Crimestoppers line 0800 555 111.
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