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TUESDAY FEBRUARY 9, 2010 - Further abuse of Pakeha reported
Last month's claims by a Swiss visitor that he, his wife and daughter had suffered racial abuse in Kaitaia's North Road at the hands of drunken youths have prompted a local woman to speak out about her experience in Matthews Avenue, also at the hands of a group of young men, on a Thursday afternoon.
The woman, who was driving her car with two grandchildren, aged three and five years, as passengers, slowed in the vicinity of the pedestrian crossing at the southern end of Matthews Avenue when she saw the young men, who she took to be in their late teens, pushing and shoving each other, fearing that one of them would be pushed into her path.
One of the young men ran to the car, however, quickly followed by the others, hurling racial abuse at the driver and punching the vehicle's windows and panels. Had one particular window not been closed, the woman said, her grandson would have been struck in the face.
A girl tried to pull the worst offender away, and the woman accelerated, ...
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 9, 2010 - Community needs to act
Northland police district commander Superintendent Mike Rusbatch said incidents such as this should obviously be reported to the police, and would always be treated seriously, but there was also a need for the community as a whole to stand up and be counted.
"The community as a whole has to make it clear that it isn't prepared to tolerate this sort of behaviour," he said.
"Like any town, the great majority of people who live in Kaitaia are good people, and must be appalled by this sort of incident. But while there might not be much that any one individual can do, if everyone does their little bit then they can help make it a much better place."
That `little bit' included reporting criminal or anti-social behaviour, and being prepared to give evidence against offenders in court if that proved to be required.
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