A Rotorua woman charged with an incident in which another woman was allegedly dragged from a central Rotorua store and attacked has made a brief appearance in court.
Alexandria Gemini Ngarimu, 18, appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday and did not enter a plea to a charge of assaulting a woman with intent to injure at Rotorua on January 11.
The assault allegedly involved a woman being verbally abused, then dragged from a dairy in the central city and attacked.
The victim was allegedly kicked and stomped on in front of about 20 people including children.
Ngarimu has been remanded on bail to appear again in court on February 2.
As part of her bail conditions she has been ordered to not contact the complainant and has been banned from the Rotorua central business district unless attending court or going to Work and Income.
Meanwhile, a cousin of the victim told The Daily Post the woman had recovered from the incident.
The woman, who didn't want to be identified, said the victim was moving on from the attack and was feeling better.
"She's been normal, she fully understands what's happened,'' she said.
Despite being capable of looking after herself, her cousin was mentally a few years behind her age.
It was initially reported her cousin was pregnant when attacked. However, she was not pregnant although she genuinely believed she was, the woman said.
- Abigail Hartevelt and Kristin Macfarlane
