Thinking of moving to New Zealand because its a great place to raise kids?

Along with the Hamilton suburb of Fairfield you may want to give Napier a miss after two children were attacked on two separate days. Both of the assaults were unprovoked.

The NZ news site Stuff.co.nz reported

A 17-year-old was walking along a Napier street listening to music yesterday when he was suddenly punched in the back of the head.

As the teenager picked himself up off the ground a shirtless young man was “shaping up to attack again while yelling obscenities at him,” a police spokesman said…

He ran home and called the police. Police want to speak to a group of five young men who were walking nearby when the attack occurred on the corner of York Ave and Lancaster about 5.45pm yesterday.

and it followed this attack the previous day

“… a 12-year-old boy was assaulted by a man who took exception to him calling out “hello”.

The man, believed to be between 40 and 50 allegedly grabbed the boy by the throat, punched him and put him in a headlock, causing him to fall down a stock bank. The man is then alleged to have chased the boy, kicked him and put him back in to a headlock. He then let him go and rode off…”

In early 2013 police warned Napier residents about a sexual predator on the loose, see Napier Police warn parents about sexual predator after third incident in three months.

The attacks follow at least 3 child abduction attempts in the last month in other areas of New Zealand:

2 Jan

Police described a sexually motivated attack on a 6-year-old girl in West Auckland as “every parent’s worst nightmare”. She was playing with two other children at Glendene Reserve, Auckland when a man grabbed her and took her towards a creek area where an assault took place. source

28 Dec

A man tried to snatch a 2 year old boy away from his mother outside shops in Puriri St, Wanganui. The woman said a man his early 20s tired to snatch her child as they walked down the street. She fought him off and he eventually got in a van with 2 older people. The frightened mum said she’d never seen him or the van before. Police issued a description of the man, who the woman described as having a dirty appearance and smoking a joint. They are appealing to the public for help to solve the case. source

Dec 7

Baline Ross Hughes, 2o,  was arrested for unlawful taking and injuring with intent to injure, a 13 year old Timaru Girl. The girl was dragged off her bike and into bush at Washdyke, near Timaru. source

Also in today’s New Zealand news

Police release a sketch of a man who sexually assaulted a woman on Boxing Day in Hutt Valley.  An elderly woman is tied up during a violent daytime robbery  of her Papatoetoe home. Teens rob a Cambridge liquor store and another German tourist and a woman from the Czech Republic have become crime victims in Alexandra after their belongings were stolen from the Alexandra Backpackers on Monday and Tuesday.

“Lennard Groene, 25, said he arrived in town at the weekend to start cherry picking for the season at Hinton Orchard, having travelled around  the South Island since October…

On Monday a woman from the Czech Republic had food and drinks stolen, he said…”

There were also 3 more stingray stabbings this week in Tolga Bay, the Coromandel Peninsula and  Bay of Plenty.

Know a safe place?

Help our readers out. If you know of a safe place to raise kids in New Zealand we’d like to hear from you.

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