Police are investigating after a teenager was followed and had his vehicle damaged by two men in an unprovoked attack.
The 18-year-old’s mother, who wants to remain anonymous, says her son was leaving Pak’nSave Ormiston at about 8.40pm on January 21 when he heard people yelling.
Two men and one woman then began following her son.
She says the people were “yelling and screaming” at him and were driving irrationally.
He drove along Stancombe Road, heading toward Counties Manukau East Police headquarters in Ormiston Road, but stopped for a red light at the intersection of Ormiston Road and Chapel Road.
His mother says the two men following her son then got out of their vehicle, approached his car and tried to pull him out of it, but were unable to as he’d locked the doors.
They then “smashed” his car and tried to smash its windows, she says.
The woman says her son was by himself and had done nothing to provoke the attack.
She says the two men and one woman were in a gold-coloured hatchback vehicle.
“My son, who’s only had his restricted [driver’s] licence for a month, called the first phone number in his phone and it was my husband,” she told the Times.
“He was so scared he wasn’t making much sense.
“When my husband met my son at the Ormiston police station they were closed so they waited for someone to come downstairs.”
She says her son was crying and shaking following the incident.
He was unable to sleep following the attack and didn’t go to work.
A police spokesperson says an investigation is under way into a report of wilful damage in Flat Bush on January 21.
“It was reported to police after 9pm that occupants of a vehicle had approached the victim at a set of traffic lights and became verbally aggressive.
“During this incident, the victim’s door has been kicked and sustained damage.
“The victim was understandably shaken by the incident but did the right thing in heading directly to the nearest police station and calling 111.
“Our enquiries remain ongoing at this stage.
“If anyone witnessed the incident at the intersection of Ormiston Road and Chapel Road, they can contact police quoting file number 220122/0668.”
A post on social media about the incident drew a large number of comments, many from people who say crime is increasing in the Flat Bush and Ormiston communities.
They say there’s a rise in vehicles being damaged or stolen, as well as behaviour involving violence or intimidation and homes being broken into.
But the police spokesperson says police are “not immediately aware of a spike in reporting crime in the Flat Bush and Ormiston areas over the past year”.
“Anecdotally, reported levels have remained around the same over this period.”
People with information on the January 21 incident in which the teenager’s car was damaged can phone police on 105 or the free and anonymous Crimestoppers tipoff line on 0800 555 111.
