An obese Maori woman has been arrested over an alleged attack on a Chinese schoolboy on a bus in New Zealand last month.
The suspect, 39, will appear in Manukau District Court on Tuesday charged with wounding with intent to wound over the alleged June 28 assault which left Jason Luo, 16, horrific facial injuries.
The woman, who witnesses described as Maori and weighing more than 200kg, allegedly hit Luo with a metal pole on a bus going from Howick to Auckland city at about 9.15am, knocking out three of his teeth, and damaging three more.
She also allegedly yelled racial slurs at Luo, who is 185cm tall and was one his way to play basketball, before the random alleged attack.
“I took off my headphones and asked her politely if she was talking to me. Then I heard her shouting ‘f**k’ and ‘chink’ at me, which are words that are particularly discriminatory against Chinese people in the West,” Luo told Chinese-language media, News.com.au reported.
Acting detective senior sergeant James Mapp said the woman had been tracked down and arrested on Monday, after images of a person of interest were released last week.
Mr Mapp said earlier in the investigation: “This was an unprovoked [alleged] assault, which left the [alleged] victim with serious facial injuries.
“The offender has alighted from the bus prior to police arrival. We understand the fear and concern events like this inflict on the community and we will continue to pursue every lead to hold this person to account.
“Police have no tolerance for this type of crime or intimidation in our communities. We are also providing support to the victim and want to reassure the community we are working hard to locate the person responsible.”
New Zealand Transport Minister Simeon Brown said on Wednesday he had asked Auckland Transport to confirm whether staff had followed correct protocols, after Luo claimed the driver did not stop to assist him after the attack, and continued with his route instead.
“In terms of how the incident was managed by the bus driver and by Auckland Transport, I want assurances that the appropriate policies and procedures were followed, and if there’s a need for improvement in that regard,” Mr Brown said.
“It’s not about laying blame, but it’s actually just saying we need to learn from these incidents to make sure that New Zealanders using public transport are kept safe.”
Maoris are 15% of New Zealand’s population but commit almost half of the criminal offences and are overrepresented in almost every category, police crime statistics show.
An analysis of police data from the year to January 2024 by Spider Cat NZ, verified by Noticer News, showed that those of European background committed 30.9% of the offences despite being 62% of New Zealand population, while Maoris committed 44.5%.
Maoris committed 6,533.34 offences per 100,000 people, compared to 1067.54 for Europeans, 307.64 for Asians, 889.66 for Indians, and 2,382.60 for Pacific Islanders.
For homicide offences the figures were 9.02 for Maoris, 6.55 for Pasifika, 2.09 for Indians, 1.49 for Asians, and 1.27 for Europeans.
Maoris were also overrepresented in sexual assault and related offences (26.6%), robbery and extortion and related offences (63.7%), burglary (54.9%), theft (57%), fraud (38%), drug offences (40.5%) and weapons offences (50.5%).
