Hamilton Gardens (photo credit Wikipedia)
International news agencies are reporting that an elderly Chinese couple were robbed at knifepoint in Hamilton yesterday
“Two men, one armed with a knife, have robbed two Chinese visitors in broad daylight while they were walking in the popular Hamilton Gardens.
Police say the 60-year-old woman and her husband were followed before being confronted by two men in the gardens about 3pm on Monday.
“One of the offenders was armed with a knife which he used to cut the woman’s shirt and then cut away a money belt worn around her waist,” Detective Sergeant Nigel Keall said…” more here
What the report didn’t pick up on was this was the just latest in a string of armed robberies in Hamilton. On 4 March a woman was robbed at gunpoint whilst walking along the bank of the Waikato river.
All this is happening against a backdrop of crime in a town in decline, with reports of under age drinking, vandalism and thuggish behaviour. Local louts have also been throwing rocks and screaming abuse at tourists on excursions down the river. Read more about that here.
Waikato River Explorer owner Darren Mills told the Waikato Times that is was only a matter of time before someone was hurt. That someone was almost the Chinese tourist whose clothing was cut away by her attacker.
“Mr Mills was also concerned about the number of children “hanging around Wellington St beach” who are drinking alcohol. “I’m talking about children as young as 7 or 8 sitting down on the jetty drinking – it is unbelievable,” he said…” source
Unbelievable? we don’t think so, this could be remarkably commonplace for many small towns and villages in New Zealand. What else is there for these poverty stuck kids to do and what have they to aspire to when they grow up – other than become professional thieves, prey on tourists and live on benefits.
Isn’t this the sort of behaviour one would expect in third world countries?
You may also be interested in
Pukekohe Kids Hijack Car At Gunpoint, “Get out of the car bitch” (Elderly woman hijacked by three kids, the youngest was 8)
Kids in New Zealand, the village lets them down (Parents in Whangarei organising fights between their kids so that they can sort out their differences)
Terrified Chilean Tourist Punched, Robbed In Nelson (“Three teenagers punched and robbed a terrified Chilean tourist in broad daylight at the Church Steps on Saturday evening in another of the alcohol-fuelled attacks that are blighting Nelson.”)
Rotorua Stabbing “Indicative” Of Youth Issues In City (Community leaders called for the Government to tackle youth and alcohol problems in the city)
NZ A Great Place to Raise Kids? Porirua’s Midnight Express (Blog written about an alarming increase in children committing violent crime and robberies around New Zealand)
Kaitaia’s Kids’ Drunken Night Of Rampage. Mob Rule (Residents of the small Northland town of Kaitaia suffered $10,000 in damages after a ‘group’ of 10 tanked up kids rampaged through the town for three and a half hours one Monday night)
Booze linked to teen crime in Christchurch (15 and 16-year-olds appearing in the Youth Court on rape and sexual-assault charges)
E2NZ.org 
E2NZ,I am not sure if you can publish this on your blog
Four years ago when me and my parents lived in Wellington and we still live there,our house was robbed in broad daylight,laptops,computers,clothes and food were stolen and also when my mum called the Police,it took them 2-3 hours to turn up and then they told my mum and dad no big deal and that got my mum mad and also what was even worse was that it took their crime unit 4 days to show up just to look for finger prints and whats worse was that when my mum took a claim to the Insurance companies for damage done to the back door and the rear garage door,the insurance companies would only pay out 10% for the repairs
The bottom line,if you want to buy a house in New Zealand,make sure its not in a Housing New Zealand area or close to it as I have heard from my friends that poverty is so bad and when they see a well off family move in,they’ll try to rob them.Also the Police can’t be trusted,its not just rape cases,its robbery cases too,in the Chinese Community in Wellington,it is well known when someone is robbed and they call the Police for help,the Police does not care,period
Many of these sprawling gardens are mazes of hedges, shubbery and sculpture – so first time visitors are at a disadvantage when it comes to catching the thief or getting help from others.
Missing are alarm boxes at the various displays so that people can call for help.
Some of these gardens also have grass verges concealing very deep drops which can easily break hips on impact too.
Hope that’s the only mugger operating in that area:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8437527/Gardens-mugger-targets-off-duty-policeman
” Mr Morgan noticed another figure on the couple’s tail.
The situation escalated at the road barrier when the balaclava-clad man pulled out a gun, Mr Morgan said.
“Some discussion went on and next minute I see the man push the gun away and slam the guy on the ground. The guy made a bit of a mistake because the man he confronted was an off-duty policeman.
“The policeman had him on the ground, and I went along and helped to restrain him. When we realised there was a gun involved, we weren’t that keen on letting him up again.”
The offender remained pinned to the road until police arrived and arrested him.”
What a surprise “Dark Skinned” people. Its not really a surprise.
I warn all my international guest about this mennace in our society.
This is just one of the stories that actually was accessible on the Internet. There are many other incidents of larceny, including of tourists, that I personally knew of because they were in the local papers, or happened to people personally, but for some reason never made it into big headlines or onto the Internet. I have to stress, only a fraction of New Zealand crime is reported to police and/or reported in the media. We do not live there anymore.
you are very right, and crime was created by the people around us. if you saw the people were mostly immoral, dishonest, rude and ruthless, spending your life attending court trials and counting on the police to help does not work. you’re very much out there on your own, and fellow kiwis wont lend a helping hand… or, maybe 1 in 20 people may help indirectly. but, without a big gang of your own around you backed by connections to law firms and political entities, you’re pretty much cursed waiting to be targeted and raped.