Father allegedly stabbed while riding motorcycle home from work

Tuesday, 18 March 2025

A father of two young children allegedly stabbed on his way home from work is still recovering, while his accused attacker is out on bail.

Mat Hayward, 35, planned to stop at a Christchurch dairy on the afternoon of March 6 to pick up a drink for his toddler son and school-aged daughter.

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He was pulled up near a bus stop on Opawa Rd, near Garlands Rd, in Hillsborough when, according to his partner, someone tried to run him off the road and then stabbed him in the stomach.

Emergency services were called at 4.45pm, but the alleged assailant fled before police arrived.

Hayward, a keen motorcyclist who was riding his partner’s black Yamaha MT-03 and wearing a black helmet, was rushed to Christchurch Hospital in a serious condition.

He had emergency surgery on the stab wound, where the knife went through his stomach and intestine and nicked his pancreas.

While in hospital Hayward was given a heavy concoction of medication and a pain button to self-medicate to help manage his discomfort, his partner Merehana Freeman told The Press.

She said it was shocking to get a call saying her partner, the father of her children, had been stabbed.

Hayward was discharged over the weekend after spending more than a week in hospital, where he had a drain inserted into his abdomen that had to be regularly changed.

Freeman said she and her family were grateful to a group of good samaritans who called and alerted her, and helped Hayward by applying pressure to his wound with a cardigan until he could get proper medical help. It was an apparent joint effort from several witnesses who were nearby.

His relatives believed things could have been much worse if those members of the public had not intervened, and asked The Press to mention how thankful they were as they had no other way of contacting the people who had helped.

Hayward’s pain had been up and down, as had his demeanour, Freeman said ahead of him being discharged from hospital.

“He’s still not out of the woods just yet. He’s in a lot of pain.”

The “excruciating” pain was at its worst after the drains were changed, she said, adding that the family were struggling to cope with the weight of everything that had happened.

“He feels like it’s the stabbing all over again … the pain is the same.”

Freeman said she and Hayward were both keen motorcyclists and used to ride a lot together before she gave birth to their son.

It was hard to hear the accused assailant was out in the community on bail, while Hayward could not even manage to go to the toilet by himself, Freeman said.

She felt the justice system was “diabolical”.

Hayward was the main breadwinner for the family, Freeman said, while she looked after the children and was on a benefit.

Freeman said she had received parking tickets while at the hospital visiting Hayward, and had to borrow a car as hers had broken down, and she and the children would not fit on the motorcycles.

“We are struggling.”

Paoroa Flowers, of North New Brighton, was arrested soon after the incident and is charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The 29-year-old had his first appearance at the Christchurch District Court on Wednesday and was granted a registrar’s remand on bail to April 8. A registrar confirmed he did not have name suppression.