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Story: Violent crime

North Shore assault

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Three men talking next to police car and behind Police Emergency crime scene tape

Police seal off a crime scene at Milford Beach on Auckland’s North Shore in January 2008. A couple parked at the beach had been attacked in the early hours of the morning by several men who hit them over the head with a metal bar and robbed them. Both victims fled the scene with serious lacerations to their heads. Four young men aged 18–21 were later charged with the attack – and with an attack on another couple later that night. They pleaded guilty two days into their trial, and received prison sentences ranging from 9½ years with no non-parole period to 14 years with a minimum non-parole period of eight years. The mother of one of the offenders was jailed for four months for concealing the bloodstained metal weapons used in the attack.

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by Mike Millett

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How to cite this page

Greg Newbold, Violent crime – Robberies and assaults, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/26512/north-shore-assault (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Greg Newbold, published 12 March 2024, reviewed and revised 3 May 2024 with assistance from Greg Newbold.