Journalist says he's being targeted after tyres slashed again Slashed tyres: Paddy Manning's car. Photo: Paddy Manning Investigative reporter Paddy Manning believes he is being targeted after his vehicle's tyres were slashed for the second time in a week and his neighbour was attacked and hospitalised after confronting a suspect. Manning's neighbour questioned a man in their street in Maroubra about 6.45am on Monday and was repeatedly struck in the back with a hammer before wrestling the weapon from his attacker. The offender fled in a vehicle before police and paramedics arrived. Paddy Manning: his tyres were slashed for a second time. Paramedics confirmed that a man in his 40s was taken to Prince Of Wales hospital after being assaulted in Maroubra on Monday morning. Manning, a former senior business journalist with Fairfax Media, said it was the second time in a week the tyres on his Volkswagen Transporter had been slashed. He believed the offender may have been waiting for him. "It just seems obvious to me that I'm being targeted," he said. The first attack on the vehicle was captured by a neighbour's security camera on Tuesday. That vision shows a man in a hooded jumper walking up and down the street before slashing the tyres, Manning said. No other vehicles were damaged. Manning said he spent $600 fixing the damage, before going away with his family. Monday's attack occurred on the first night he was back home. The neighbour challenged the man, who was wearing a hoodie and carrying a bucket while "walking up and down the street," after noticing the vehicle had been damaged again, Manning said. The man had responded that he was looking for some tiling work, Manning said, adding that tradesmen lived on his street and there was construction underway in the area. When the neighbour responded that it was too early to be asking for work, the man attacked him with a hammer, Manning said. He suffered multiple blows. "My neighbour can only remember two, but the ambulance says it looks like more," Manning said. The neighbour grabbed the hammer, cutting his hand. "Then the bloke's jumped in a car and driven away," Manning said. Both incidents were reported to Maroubra police, he said. Last week I thought it might just be vandals. It's a pretty rough suburb in some ways and I thought, 'Oh well, things happen,' " Manning said. To have this happen on the first night that we're back in town is beyond a coincidence. There has never been any other tyre slashed in the street and, worse, now someone's been assaulted. It's deadly serious and it could have been worse. Police have been contacted for comment. In his career with Fairfax Media, Manning covered issues including climate change and the coal seam gas industry. He was formerly BusinessDay's national chief of staff, had worked for The Australian Financial Review and The Australian, and was founding editor of Ethical Investor magazine. Earlier this month, Manning left Fairfax Media in the wake of penning an article critical of the company's direction for web publisher Crikey.