A mother‘s pleas after unprovoked machete attack

Ari was slashed during an attacked in Te Puna. He’s not at home recovering with family. Supplied photos.

A mother's worst nightmare came to fruition when she got that dreaded call from police.

Her son and his friend had been attacked at the Minden Lookout in Te Puna on January 4.

Their loved family pet Ari was also missing.

Talking to SunLive about the incident, the woman, who has asked not to be named, describes how everything unfolded.

'On the evening of January 4, around 10pm – 10.30pm, he and a mate came up and parked their vehicle on the gravel spot by the side of the road near the lookout - a great spot to sit in your car (unmolested by mosquitoes) and take in the view of Tauranga in the distance with a canopy of stars overhead.”

She says there is something about not needing to make eye contact while sitting in a car that makes it easier to open up.

'In the last few years my son has battled with depression and this particular mate has been a rock for him through some dark times.

'What better place to go, than Minden Lookout for some chilled conversation. Ari, his fur buddy, came along for the outing. In my view Ari is a life saver in more than one way.”

The woman says what was once a stunning spot is now being described by community members as a place for teens to do burnouts and people who trash the place leaving beer bottles and drug paraphernalia.

She says Tuesday evening saw a horrendous escalation to the crimes in this place.

'The boys' quiet chilled conversation was abruptly interrupted as a white vehicle drove up with lights glaring into their car and blocking them in.

'Four men jumped out of the vehicle carrying weapons including machete, baseball bat and crowbar. My son's friend was in the driver's seat with his window down.

'An attacker immediately started punching him in the head. Another man with a machete came over to my son's window which was half down. He smashed the machete towards his head. Luckily it hit the edge of the window. Ari was in the back seat, with the windows down. My son recalls hearing Ari growling.

'My son yelled, ‘Drive, drive, drive'. Not very easy to drive when someone is punching you in the face and you are in shock! Somehow his friend managed to.

'They drove in a panic trying to get one of their phones unlocked so they could call the police. It was then that they realised Ari wasn't in the car anymore. They stopped but the four attackers chased after them.”

In the panic of getting away, they lost control of the vehicle and smashed into a farm's wire fence and post.

The spot where they crashed has a sheer drop on the other side of the fence, the farmland runs down steeply to a gully.

'I thank whoever built that fence, as you saved our sons' lives! His friend was able to get out of the driver's seat and jump down the steep drop.

'My son was trapped in the passenger seat as it was wedged against the wire fence.”

Adrenaline kicked in, and as the guys closed in, he leaped out his car window - simply amazing that nothing was broken.

They ran/tumbled their way down the hill into the bush to hide, says the woman.

'The attackers proceeded to smash up the car with their weapons as well as my son's phone which he'd left in the car.

The vehicle sustained damage in the attack.

'So thankful our boys escaped and it wasn't them that these weapons were used on. After a few minutes of smashing the attackers drove off, nothing was stolen - this was unprovoked senseless violence.”

It was around 30 minutes from the time they called the police till they arrived, recalls the mother.

An ambulance also came out.

'As parents we got ‘the dreaded midnight call' relayed by our daughter at about 12.30am.

'We were able to talk via his friend's phone. He just kept saying, ‘we can't find Ari, Mum'.

'My husband and I drove out and talked to the police and ambulance team.

'They'd all searched and called for Ari. I don't think my son would let the ambulance take him unless we'd been there to continue the search.

'His friend's Mum is a specialist at Tauranga Hospital. Knowing the boys were in good hands, we continued to search for Ari - that was the best way to help him.”

After hours of searching and calling in the dark, the family decided that Ari may be too scared to come out and they would be better to come back early in the morning and bring his brother Red to help in the search.

'Not that I slept…as a parent your mind goes over all the million ways you'd like to hunt down and inflict pain on the scum who have done this to your loved ones.

'We headed back early in the morning. Our daughter called enroute and asked us to collect her and my son from their flat so they could search with us.

'They also hadn't slept all night and had spent around 6 hours at the hospital - sprains, abrasions, bruising and cuts but no broken bones.

'We arrived at the lookout at 7.30 am, parking where the initial assault happened. My son thinks Ari jumped out the window when they were being attacked.

'I like to imagine that Ari was protecting him and hope he managed to get a good chomp on the sod's machete wielding arm.

'Dad stayed by the car to call for Ari. My son and I went up Minden Road, daughter went down towards the lookout and the nearby homes.

'I could hear in my son's voice his desperation to find Ari as he called for him. That really breaks a mother's heart.”

During the search, the woman's phone rang, this time it was the other kind of call they were hoping to get… a delighted voice saying, ‘You'll never guess who we have here with us'.

'I've never seen my son sprint so fast, as he raced back to the car for the best kind of reunion. The one where you've found a loved one that you thought you'd lost forever.”

Ari and his owner were both injured during the incident.

Ari had approached a neighbor late in the night and they'd put him on a rope to keep him secure.

Ari had a lot of blood on his back so the family drove directly to Te Puna vets.

He needed surgery for a very deep gash to his back.

The vet said that it was a miracle that Ari was okay, as the blade had gone into the hip bones which had prevented his spinal cord being severed.

An x-ray showing where the blade hit Ari's hip bone.

'My mind flashes to an image of that blade coming toward my son's neck - blocked by a glass window.

'I made a post at 6am Wednesday on the Lost and Found Pets Tauranga Facebook group - the community support and desire to help find Ari and the ones who did this is heartwarming.

'Thank you to so many for taking an interest in his well-being and that of our much loved human boys as well. I dearly hope the police find the perpetrators so that they cannot harm others.

A police spokesperson confirms they received a report of an assault on two people at the Minden Road Lookout area on January 4.

'The assault occurred at around 10pm and the two victims were transported to hospital and treated for their injuries, which were not believed to be serious.

'Enquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances and identify the offenders.”

If anyone has any video footage of Minden Road from around 10.30pm January 4 or any information please contact the police via the 105 number quoting the file #220105/0172.

'This could have been so much worse! Thank God there are some happy endings in real life,” says the mother.

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