A Palmerston North pizza delivery man was ambushed and smashed in the face with a golf club in what police are calling an "out of proportion" planned attack.
The 52-year-old man was sent to deliver three pizzas to a house in Brentwood Ave in Highbury about 11pm yesterday, but when he got there no-one appeared to be about.
As the delivery man left the gate, he was struck twice by a man carrying a golf club, with one blow landing across his face and another on his thigh, Detective Sergeant Gary Milligan said.
The attacker and another man ran off towards Highbury with three pizzas. A neighbour chased them but was unable to catch up with them but the thieves were forced to abandon the pizzas during the chase.
"Our concern is that this appears to have been planned by the offenders so that they could ambush the delivery man," Mr Milligan said.
"Hitting someone over the head with a golf club could have had far more serious consequences and is totally out of proportion with the theft of a few pizzas."
The delivery man was taken to Palmerston North Hospital and treated for minor injuries.
He has been released from hospital and was recovering from his injuries this morning.
Police will today speak to the victim in detail to try to identify the offenders, and will also speak with his employers and neighbours
Police only have a description of the man armed with a golf club at this stage.
He is described as a thinly built European man, aged about 17 to 20, about 1.77m tall.
Police are appealing for information and witnesses.
Pizza delivery drivers have been subject of a series of attacks in recent years, including the high-profile killing of Auckland delivery man Michael Choy, who was beaten to death with a baseball bat in 2001.
The country's youngest convicted killer, Bailey Junior Kurariki, who was 12 at the time, was found guilty of his manslaughter along with three others. Alexander Tokorua Peihopa and Whatarangi Rawiri both received life sentences for Mr Choy's murder.
Last year, a 23-year-old delivery driver was attacked by a group in the Hastings suburb of Flaxmere, while in 2009 a driver was shot in the stomach with an air rifle while delivering a pizza to an Upper Hutt house.
