The Star: March 09, 2017

8 Thursday March 9 2017
Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
The Star
News
Bashing victim regains
voice, speaks to police
• By Bridget Rutherford
THE VICTIM of a horror attack
following a Christchurch music
festival was interviewed by police
yesterday after regaining her
voice.
Amelia Rayner, 29, was
punched in the throat when
she and her boyfriend were leaving
Electric Avenue at Hagley
Park just after 11pm on February
25.
She had an operation to have
a metal plate inserted into her
throat to help her breathe.
Her family was worried about
how it could affect her voice.
But her mother, Barbara
Rayner, told The Star yesterday
that Amelia was talking and
doing “really well.”
She said hearing her daughter
speak for the first time
following the incident was “just
wonderful.”
“We’ve been very, very lucky.
She’s just got a bit of healing to
do.”
It is alleged Ms Rayner and
her boyfriend were leaving the
festival when they got into an
altercation with four men.
RECOVERING: Amelia Rayner has regained her voice after she
and her boyfriend were assaulted while leaving the Electric
Avenue music festival. ​
The men allegedly assaulted
her boyfriend, and when she
stepped in to help, she was
punched in the throat crushing
her trachea.
It has been reported that police
interviewed a man believed to
have caused her injury, but no
charges have been laid.
Detective Senior Sergeant
Mark Worner said police
interviewed Ms Rayner on
Wednesday morning.
But he would not give
any details about how it
went.
“Inquiries are ongoing.”
Barbara Rayner said her
daughter did not remember
much of what happened.
Sex attack after
woman leaves
Lincoln concert
A 48-YEAR-OLD woman was
sexually assaulted as she walked
home from the Selwyn Sounds
concert in Lincoln on Saturday.
The woman had left the concert
before it finished and police are
hoping members of the public
saw her.
They also hope someone might
have found a fine gold chain
bracelet with a heart-shaped gold
locket which belonged to the
woman.
The locket has a small diamond
on one side and a keyhole on the
other.
Said Detective Sergeant Phil
Sparks: “She left the concert on
her own at approximately 6.30pm
and walked along Meijer Dr onto
North Belt. It is in this vicinity
that she was grabbed from behind
and pushed a short distance off
the road to where she was attacked.”
Detective Sergeant Sparks said
the attack occurred between
6.30pm and 8pm. The concert
ended just after 8.30pm.
“It was still daylight and
members of the public may have
seen something that can assist in
identifying the attacker,” he said.
Police would like to hear
from anyone who may have
seen the victim leaving the concert.
She is of thin build with a dark
bob haircut, and was wearing a
black straw hat, light grey dress,
brown leather boots, denim jacket
and carrying two small backpacks
when she left the concert.
Police want to hear from
anyone who saw an interaction
between a man and a woman
fitting the victim’s description
within the vicinity of the Lincoln
Event Centre, North Belt and the
surrounding area. They also want
to hear from anyone who finds
a bracelet in the vicinity of the
attack.
Anyone with information
should call police on 363
7400. Alternatively you can call
Crimestoppers anonymously on
0800 555 111.
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