A South Auckland leader says people are concerned for their safety after a serious assault in the area turned fatal.
Police continue to investigate the scene in Ōtāhuhu today. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
A man has died after being assaulted. Emergency services were called to the incident at a house on Sturges Avenue at about 9.20pm yesterday.
Police say they are talking to the homeowners to establish what took place.
A scene investigation is underway and two security guards are standing outside the house.
Efeso Collins is worried about the rising level of violence and wants politicians to come up with more resources to deal with the problems in his area. Photo: RNZ / Jessie Chiang
Manukau ward councillor Efeso Collins said he is seriously concerned about rising violence in the neighbourhood.
"I was feeling really forlorn this morning as I was speaking to young parents reaching out looking for some sense of hope.
"How do we get the community together to really implore the government and state to step in with some resource and we can't just have politicians turn up to run meetings and talkfests in order to resource the issues that are at hand here in South Auckland."
About 80 percent of people living in the area are religious and Mr Collins is asking churches to use their tithes to employ youth workers.
He believed both the government and churches should be looking to provide resources in order to prevent young people getting involved in gangs.
"I rung a couple of pastors last night. Here we are collecting tithes off our people, let's commit some of that tithing towards resourcing some youth workers. They are obviously feeling challenged. We have to use the resources we have as a community," he said.
Mr Collins said the area has a high gang population and he hoped to meet with their leaders to discuss prioritising public safety.
The death comes after a man was shot at a bar in South Auckland early yesterday, the latest incident in five months of gun violence.
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