Teen who allegedly jumped on newborn, mother at Christchurch park told to ‘stand up straight’ in dock

A teenager who allegedly jumped on a woman and her 3-week-old baby lying in a tent in Christchurch will have to make a plea and fight for name suppression at his next hearing.

The 18-year-old accused appeared for the second time at the Christchurch District Court on Thursday charged with assault.

As he stood in the dock, wearing a shirt and Nike shoes, Christchurch District Court, Judge Mark Callaghan asked him, “Are you a bit tired?” before telling him to “stand up straight”.

The teenager was already on bail. He had three supporters in court who appeared to be friends and a guardian.

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He entered no plea and was granted continued interim name suppression – something the judge noted was in part based on hardship to his family.

But that may not last. At his next appearance on January 26 he will be expected to enter a plea and the issue of name suppression should be fully canvassed, the judge said.

Police were investigating whether the assault was racially motivated.

The alleged assault took place at Scarborough Park in Sumner around 8pm, December 17.

A mother was at the park with friends and had been lying in a tent with her newborn baby when the alleged attack happened.

Baby and mother were taken to Christchurch Hospital and discharged the following morning, with only the mother having reported injuries to her neck and toe.

However, Christchurch imam Gamal Fouda, who was present during the attack, said the baby was rushed back to hospital for further tests the next day.

The alleged attack

Fouda said a group of teenagers, including the alleged attacker, had been drinking in the liquor-banned park, watching the gathered Muslim group for “some time”, before the incident.

It was unclear whether the alleged attack was planned or opportunistic, but the Muslim community wanted it to be investigated.

After the incident, the unnamed teen reportedly made racist comments to the family, including “go back to your country”, Fouda said.

Fouda said the teen attempted to flee the scene in a car driven by his friends. However, Fouda and a group of others ran after him and stood in front of the car.

“One person came out from the car with a metal bar and attacked others, but we stopped him and got the bar from him and it was given to police as evidence,” Fouda told Stuff in December.

The group apprehended the alleged attacker and called police at 8.23pm. Police arrived at 10pm and took him into custody.

For 90 minutes there was a tense stand-off between the group waiting for police – including onlookers who stepped in to help – and the teenager’s supporters.

During that time, around four carloads of the teenager’s supporters arrived and people were concerned a “big fight” would break out.

“It was a big shock for us and the public who were there. They couldn’t understand why the police didn’t come,” he said.

Superintendent Lane Todd said at the time that initial reports suggested it was “a lower level disorder incident”.

Staff had been responding to higher priority incidents, including a serious stabbing and several high risk family harm incidents, he said.

“Further information received indicated an escalation in the disorderly behaviour, at which point staff were diverted to the Scarborough incident and a man was quickly apprehended.”

Meng Foon, Race Relations Commissioner, offered his support to the whānau in December.

He said hate attacks were on the increase and were a “grave concern” to him.

In two weeks, the Human Rights Commission had received six verbal and written hate messages, he said.

Maha Galal, a voluntary social worker with the Christchurch Muslim community, previously told Stuff there had been numerous incidents in recent months that appeared to be motivated by hate. However, police reportedly told them there was nothing they could do.