New Zealand’s reputation as a safe place took another nose dive today.

A rampaging axe man has attacked householders in Timberlea, Upper Hut, killing one woman and seriously injuring two males ages 20 and 24 years. Here’s what the NZ Herald had to say:

A woman has told of a narrow escape after a man armed with an axe knocked at her door before going on to attack her neighbour. The woman, who does not wish to be named, lives next-door to one of the Upper Hutt homes where a man armed with an axe visited in a rampage in which a woman was killed and three other people were injured. The woman said she was on her computer yesterday evening when the attacker knocked at her door. When he found it locked he went to her neighbour’s house. She said the man attacked her 20-year-old neighbour with an axe as he tried to fend him off… more here

Our thoughts and condolences go out to the victims’ and their whanau and friends The incident comes two weeks after a North Island school was placed in lockdown while police hunted for an offender. A woman was knifed to death in a nearby street and two people stabbed in the stomach, read Albany primary school in lockdown.

Related

Elderly couple beaten in their Waikanae home – 10 Dec 2014 (OneNews)

Dennis and Eileen Phillips were attacked by at least two people in their Waikanae home sometime between Monday night and yesterday morning before the offenders stole their car. The car was then found on a nearby street last night.

“This is a cowardly attack by thugs on an elderly couple in their home. It doesn’t get much worse than that,” says Kapiti-Mana police investigations manager Grant Ferguson.

The pair are in Wellington Hospital in a stable condition… more

( 17 year old youth was later charged with two charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and burglary charges for this and an incident that occurred earlier in the evening near He Awa street. His victims are sill in hospital – source)

The 17 year old was later named as Hohepa Wallace, from Otaki. He has been denied name suppression.

Violent New Zealand –  A Rash of Stabbing Incidents Including a Machete Attack Breaks Out and News Becomes Sanitized – August 2014

There have been a rash of stabbing incidents in the press recently. Not that these cases are that unusual, but for some reason the details are being released to the public more frequently than is the norm. But have you noticed this? as the stories develop fewer and fewer details are given out. The New Zealand public is becoming inured to violence, many will acknowledge what happened to one 26 year old man last night occured in notorious West Auckland. They’ll shrug and move on with their lives. Few will question why an armed police officer is guarding the murder site this morning, this is West Auckland. The inference is that this street may be gang territory, reprisals may be expected. Subconsciously, people already know that…more