{"id":358955,"date":"2026-04-01T18:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/358955\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T18:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:11:09","slug":"devonport-cove-attack-local-board-chair-appalled-as-teens-beating-probed-by-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/358955\/","title":{"rendered":"Devonport cove attack: Local board chair \u2018appalled\u2019 as teen\u2019s beating probed by police"},"content":{"rendered":"

The incident took place at a small cove at the foot of Maungauika\/North Head, which is a secluded beach tucked around the corner from nearby homes. <\/p>\n

\u2018Cowardly action\u2019<\/p>\n

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chairwoman Trish Deans said she was appalled at the severity of the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a violent attack where a mob who are out of sight decide they can single out a teenager, a cowardly action,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Deans said she has lived in Devonport for 30 years and raised a family without concern for her three teenagers\u2019 safety. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have walked around the cove area and have never witnessed any form of aggression,\u201d Deans said. <\/p>\n

She said the gates at the entrance to Maungauika\/North Head are closed in the evening. There are ways for pedestrians to enter but this has never been a problem. <\/p>\n

\"Devonport-TakapunaDevonport-Takapuna Local Board chairwoman Trish Deans says the attack on a teenager was “cowardly”. Photo \/ Jason Oxenham<\/p>\n

\u201cOur community is shocked that a random brutal attack can happen in our neighbourhood,\u201d Deans said. <\/p>\n

Police said investigations are continuing after a report of an assault involving a group of young people. <\/p>\n

Police have spoken to two people so far, with one referred to Youth Aid Services and the second due to appear in the youth court today charged with assault with intent to injure. <\/p>\n

Inquiries are continuing as police identify others involved.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think I\u2019m going to die\u2019<\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s family member said that not long after the teen arrived for a planned bonfire, he realised he was about to be attacked. <\/p>\n

She said she understood he knew some of the young people who attended, but not all of them.<\/p>\n

He then attempted to leave and managed to text a family member for help. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018I\u2019m about to get jumped. I think I\u2019m going to die\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice investigations are continuing after a report of a group assault on a 15-year-old North Shore schoolboy. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

The family member said the alleged offenders then came at the teen from the front and the back.<\/p>\n

What occurred next was captured on video, which was later sent by a member of the public. The violent clip was also sent to the victim after the attack. <\/p>\n

The family member said the teen went into fight or flight mode as the alleged perpetrators stomped on his skull. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole time, he has his hands covering his head. Thank goodness, because his skull probably would have been crushed in that,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The family member said other people in the group later had to pull one of the individuals off the victim.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe attack victim sent a message to a relative moments before the incident saying, “I\u2019m about to get jumped. I think I\u2019m going to die”. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had to stop him. The actual attackers had to stop that attacker from continually stomping on his skull,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

She said that as the video continued, the victim then jumped off a bank to escape.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s jumped off a bank, run into the sea, swam out to sea to get away from these animals, sat in the sea for 20 minutes because they were going up and down the shoreline,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The family member said he then swam around the rocks and ran to a house. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe attack, which involved about 20 young people, took place at a small cove at the foot of Maungauika\/North Head. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201c[The people in the house] put him in a hot shower because he\u2019s shivering and they\u2019re worried he\u2019s going to get hypothermia, put him in dry clothes, and then rung him an Uber,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

She said about five family members then arrived at the beach to find him after his earlier call for help. <\/p>\n

While they were searching, she said they were told by other partygoers that some of the alleged assailants were armed with knives and were still looking for the victim. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey weren\u2019t finished. They weren\u2019t finished with that child,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

After the attack, the victim still refused to talk about the incident and a doctor said it was a \u201cmiracle\u201d he wasn\u2019t badly injured. <\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The incident took place at a small cove at the foot of Maungauika\/North Head, which is a secluded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[83031,1763,806,89,14796,2372,3595,37432,4058,41139,158646,133471,42,440,43,675,189456,672,1961,40,38,41,39,13118,1455],"class_list":["post-358955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-appalled","tag-article","tag-as","tag-attack","tag-beating","tag-board","tag-by","tag-chair","tag-contains","tag-cove","tag-descriptions","tag-devonport","tag-headlines","tag-local","tag-news","tag-police","tag-probed","tag-teens","tag-this","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-violence","tag-warning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}