A forensic scientist is being praised for stopping an assault at an Auckland Pharmacy and Post Office.
But he and community advocates are concerned about worker safety and vulnerable people committing violent offences.
Ruben Miller, who has spent more than 20 years investigating crime scenes, told RNZ he was leaving Pharmacy 455 in the suburb of Mount Eden just before midday yesterday when he heard screaming from inside the store.
"My car happened to be parked right by the entrance. I just jumped straight out of the car and went back inside the shop, and saw things off the shelves being bashed around.
"At the far end of the store, there was a woman lying on top of and totally smothering one of the workers."
He said the worker's hand was also cut by broken glass, and there was blood around.
"I went straight over, made a beeline for her, and told her to get off.
"She had hold of the worker's hair. She wouldn't let go, and every time I tried to get her to release her grip, it just tightened. There was a lot of screaming 'I'm going to f****** kill you'.
"The worker was obviously in a lot of pain, and I was really concerned because I didn't know what her injuries might have been."
Miller said practising judo for a number of years helped him to restrain the attacker.
"I thought then that at least the situation is controlled. It's not going to get worse. She's controlled, she's prone. I kept talking to her, trying to de-escalate, and she did calm down somewhat.
"She finally released her [the worker's] hair a couple of minutes before the police arrived."
It was about 15 minutes from the moment he entered the store until the woman was arrested.
He said the attacker was clearly distressed and had apparently violated her parole.
"A minute or so before the police arrived, we sat next to her, and she was sobbing by that point, had her hands over her face, and we were just sort of, I don't know, almost reassuring her.
"This woman shouldn't have done what she did. But who knows what her day-to-day is like? She was screaming, they've just kicked me out. I've got no home."
The pharmacist in charge at Pharmacy 455, who didn't want to be named, told RNZ the woman started shoving their shelves, causing stock to fall down and glass to break.
She said after their colleague confronted her, she became more aggressive, and it was "quite traumatising" for staff.
"It was pretty shocking, everything happened so fast."
The worker who was attacked did not require hospitalisation but was taking time off to recover at home.
Staff were grateful to Miller for being "very brave."
"The woman held onto the staff's hair and wouldn't let go. He was really good. He calmed her down, and she slowly released her hands. We're so glad he was there."
Police confirmed they were called to a commercial premises on Mount Eden Rd at 11.40am yesterday following reports of a disorder.
A 27-year-old woman was due to appear in the Auckland District Court on June 16 charged with threats to kill and assault.
Concern over lack of support for offenders
Founder of Kick Back Aaron Hendry, who works with at-risk young people in Auckland, said he was deeply concerned about mentally unwell offenders not getting enough support after leaving institutions such as prisons.
"People are being discharged either directly into homelessness or into some very substandard, dangerous and unsafe accommodation where they don't have the capability to keep themselves safe, to keep others safe, or even to retain their tenancies.
"Many are ending up on the street as a result of that, and their illness escalates. They become more vulnerable and at risk both to themselves and to others.
"In this country, what we're doing in terms of housing support for many of our most vulnerable is morally reprehensible."
He said though any violence or harm was inexcusable, offenders needed help transitioning back into a community after incarceration.
"I've sat with young men who have wept in tears and sat on the street after they've done something that they felt like, man, I didn't have any control over that. They know they need help, they want help, but it's not there for them.
"One thing the government could be doing immediately is implementing a duty to assist legislation and requiring state agencies to be clear on their obligation to support people to transition from their agency into stability, into some form of housing."
- Additional reporting by Felix Walton.
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz |  |
