Bus queues watch stabbing attack

Press, 20 February 1986, Page 1

Bus queues watch stabbing attack

People waiting for buses looked on horrified as a youth was stabbed outside the Cathedral Square bus kiosk late last evening. An onlooker, who was sitting across the road, said two men “smashed in” a van about 10.40 p.m. and then, apparently without provocation, attacked the youth, who was standing nearby. He was stabbed seven or eight times in the stomach. Another onlooker said, “It seemed quite casual. It looked like a scuffle and I

think he said, ‘What’s this for”? Mr David Fenton, who was standing nearby, said, “It looked like someone was punching him, but he was being stabbed.” A security guard said he saw two youths, aged about 20, being handcuffed by the police and

put into a police car at the corner of Worcester Street and the Square.

A reporter of “The Press” arrived at the scene soon after the incident and saw the youth

lying on the pavement, cradled in the laps of two persons. He appeared to be conscious and clutching a stomach wound. A police spokesman said later that the youth was being treated at Christchurch Hospital. His condition was not available late last evening.

Two young men were assisting the police with their inquiries, he said.

The police at that stage had not formed a clear idea of what had happened.