'Georgie Girl' fights for life after battering 20.12.2002

 

By PATRICK GOWER

The man they call "Georgie Girl" had been hit five times in the face with his baseball bat.

His attacker had crashed into the room, smashed the cross-dresser with the bat, and said nothing when he came in or walked out.

Crying and covered in blood, the 1.8m, 100kg streetworker got himself off the floor and walked out of the South Auckland housing project to go to hospital.

But last night, four days after the attack, George Matehaere was fighting for his life in Auckland Hospital and police were hunting the gangster who may yet be held responsible for his death.

Mr Matehaere preferred to be known as a woman and was visiting his girlfriends when the attacker, a patched gang member, began the unprovoked attack.

The Herald yesterday spoke to Mr Matehaere's friends, who did not want to be named for fear that their families would be hurt in retaliation by the attacker.

Mr Matehaere was described as a "drunk, a glue sniffer and a bloody nuisance at times", but also a kind-hearted Samaritan who would ensure the children of the project were always fed before he was.

The friends expressed anger at how his attacker had walked proudly through the project after the beating but had since gone into hiding at news of Mr Matehaere's worsening condition.

Mr Matehaere's last words before he lost consciousness were a plea for peace in the housing project.

"I just felt like killing someone," said one friend. "But Georgie had asked that I didn't and I respect her. If not, that guy would lying in the hospital bed next to her right now."

Mr Matehaere returned home after the attack on Monday. But by the afternoon he had called an ambulance - which refused to go into the housing area without a police escort.

Police did not take a complaint because he was still standing, but a 15-member team began an investigation when contacted by the hospital on his transfer to critical care on Tuesday.

Mr Matehaere was one of several streetworkers who lived in the Otahuhu Housing New Zealand project, which has more than 50 flats.

Residents spoke yesterday of doors being smashed in, of burglaries, and of people smoking cannabis and "p" or pure methamphetamine.

Mr Matehaere was known as a "vampire" or a "morepork" - he loved the night and would go around visiting the parties held at different flats.

There was also talk of standovers - Mr Matehaere had been resisting these, although his flat had been broken into, trashed and his food stolen.

A good friend of prostitute Marlene Kelly, who was murdered this year, Mr Matehaere had also been resisting similar standovers when working the streets, where men would demand a "cut" of his earnings.

While many would pay up instead of "getting rolled", his friends said he would not give in.

"He wasn't a fighter but he was not afraid. So Georgie won't die now - he'll fight this."