The New Zealand Bravery Decoration:
ISAAKO, Mr Junior Faamalosi (Losi)
Citation
Mr Losi Isaako was asleep at his home in a residential area of Flaxmere on the morning of 20 June 2025, when he was awoken by the sound of loud arguing. Moving outside, he saw multiple people fighting, and then witnessed a man being chased by an offender brandishing a large knife. Mr Isaako witnessed the offender pin the man against a vehicle opposite his property, stabbing him once in the back and twice in the back of the leg.
Another man joined the offender with the knife and they began kicking and punching the victim, who was now curled into the foetal position next to the car. Mr Isaako ran towards the attackers, prompting the second man to flee. Just before the offender was about to stab the victim again, Mr Isaako kicked the offender in the back, causing him to fall against the car. Mr Isaako put the offender into a hold, throwing him to the ground, and restraining the offender. The offender was still in possession of the knife and struggling to break free, prompting Mr Isaako to grab the offender’s arm, hitting it against the road until the knife was dropped. While continuing to restrain the offender, Mr Isaako threw the knife away from the area.
Mr Isaako noticed the victim required urgent medical attention, so he instructed the wounded man to move to a safer location on the other side of the road. He released the offender and moved to assist the victim. Mr Isaako dragged the victim onto a grass verge and wrapped a towel as a makeshift torniquet around the wound on the victim’s leg. Mr Isaako placed the victim in the recovery position and applied pressure to the other wounds. When Police arrived, Mr Isaako continued to assist the officers with first aid as they waited for the ambulance.
Mr Isaako’s timely intervention prevented further harm and allowed the victim to be stabilised, before being taken to hospital in a critical condition.
The New Zealand Bravery Decoration:
Young Person N
Citation
On the afternoon of 17 September 2024, Young Person N (then aged 12) was at home with his father in Auckland, when their male neighbour approached their house. Young Person N’s father answered the front door, at which point the man punched the father and accused him of spying. Young Person N was told to run to the back door by his father. The man grabbed the father by the collar and then pushed both the father and Young Person N into the back door, breaking the glass pane and causing cuts to Young Person N’s knee. Young Person N was pushed against the wall by the man, before the man attacked the father, rendering him unconscious.
The man moved the father to a couch in the living room, forcing Young Person N to also sit on the couch. The man questioned the father and struck him unconscious a second time. The man then began filming an “interrogation” and retrieved a knife from the adjoining kitchen. The man continued trying to question the father, who was dazed, and stabbed the father in the leg, punched or kicked him when he thought the father was not answering truthfully. Young Person N attempted to pull the man away from his father at one point.
When Young Person N went to get a towel for his father’s bleeding, the man threatened to further harm the father if Young Person N tried to leave. When the father was unable to satisfactorily answer the man’s questions, Young Person N began interceding for his father, telling the man his father was unable to hear, prompting his father to answer with limited success due to his condition, and making up answers he thought would placate the man.
During the assault, which lasted close to two hours, the father noted that Young Person N’s younger sister would be coming home soon. Young Person N asked the man to let him phone a friend to pick up his sister, which the man allowed.
Young Person N continued to intercede for his father while the man tried to unlock the father’s phone and asked further questions. The man threatened that if the father was not more forthcoming in unlocking the phone, he would harm Young Person N.
When the man realised the father’s condition was deteriorating, he allowed Young Person N to call an ambulance, which led to Police arriving and arresting the man. The father was taken to hospital in critical condition and survived with a long recovery. Young Person N demonstrated exceptional composure throughout the event, distracting the man and placating him to draw attention from his father.