Police are closing in on a man at the centre of a vicious assault on an elderly couple in the driveway of their Auckland home and are seeking three people seen with him moments before the attack.
The married couple were attacked and their Toyota Vitz stolen from their Mt Smart Rd, Onehunga home on Saturday night.
The car was then used to ram another vehicle with a family inside, and was found abandoned in Otahuhu last night.
Police have this afternoon appealed for information on three people seen with the offender just minutes before he attacked the couple, leaving them with severely bruised faces and significant jaw injuries.
Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Newman of Auckland police said the offender was seen on the corner of Felix St and Mt Smart Rd moment before he attacked.
"He was with two females and a male and was seen talking with them," he said.
"While we don't know what their association with the offender is, we need them to come forward so they can be eliminated from our inquiry and hopefully provide us with assistance."
Mr Newman said inquiries also established that in the hour after the attack, the burnt-orange/brown car the offender stole from the victims was seen in the Randwick Park area.
"We believe that the offender has picked up passengers."
He urged the associates, or anyone who knows them, to come forward to police.
"We're also asking people in the Randwick Park area to think back about whether they saw that car, which is quite distinctive, in the area at around 10.30pm on Saturday night," he said.
The couple's stolen car was recovered by police in Jack Browne Place in Otahuhu last night, following information from the public.
It was possible it was dumped there from 10.30am on Sunday morning and police were seeking sightings of it in the 12 hours from 10.30pm Saturday night.
Police also want to speak to a male passenger who was spotted in the stolen car during the second incident, and released a photo of him yesterday.
The victims are still recovering from their ordeal and are too traumatised to speak with media.
"They have expressed their appreciation at the support the media is giving the case by way of publicity, but understandably, they are very traumatised."
The elderly couple were assaulted after the woman pulled into the driveway of their Mt Smart Rd property. She was approached and verbally abused by the man.
The noise attracted her husband's attention, and when he came outside the attacker beat him unconscious.
He then attacked his wife and she too was knocked unconscious, police said.
The man fled in the couple's car, and within an hour of the attack was spotted with a man in the passenger seat at the Z petrol station on the corner of Alfriston Rd and Great South Rd. The pair deliberately rammed another car, with a couple and their children inside.
The elderly couple were both taken to hospital with suspected broken jaws following the assault. However, they escaped without fractures, but sustained severe bruising and black eyes. They are recovering at home.
- Morgan Tait of the New Zealand Herald
