Police have laid murder and serious assault charges against a 36-year-old man after an axe attack in Upper Hutt last night, Radio New Zealand reports.
Police confirmed the person killed was already dead when they reached the Blueberry Gr address and three injured people were found at different locations nearby. Two of them were described as moderately injured and were being treated at Hutt Hospital.
Colleen Noble, a neighbour of a man hurt in the attack, said he came to her door seeking help. “My neighbour come from next door - the guy that was attacked - he knocked at the door and he said that him and his mother had been attacked by a man with an axe,” she said.
She said the injured man went back to the house and found his mother dead. “He come out running out, screaming, crying, saying ‘he killed my mum’.”
Detective Inspector Darrin Thomson said the incident happened “over a number of properties in a short vicinity from each other”.
Two properties were cordoned off in Narana St as well as the property in Blueberry Gr.