Youth is a one-boy crime wave

15-year-old arrested after struggle, linked to burglaries and car thefts

A 15-year-old boy who sparked a violent incident at Kaitaia's skatebowl on Sunday evening was to appear before the Youth Court in Kaitaia yesterday, where police intended to oppose bail.

The boy, one of 10 young people at the skatebowl, had been identified to police as a burglary suspect. Blood had been found at the premises of Te Aupouri Maori Trust Training Division in Kaitaia a short time earlier, and according to the informant the teenager had blood on his hands, and was keeping them deep in his pockets.

When a sole police officer approached him he tried to flee but was dragged to the ground, at which point he called upon the other members of the group to "get into it", one of them twice spitting in the face of a former police jailer who had just arrived on the scene, while another threw a piece of wood, with nails protruding from it, at him, striking him in the face. He was not seriously hurt.

The arrested youth was finally placed in a police car, where he kicked out a window, while another youth took a series of swipes at the officers, including two more who had arrived by that time, with a stick.

He became more compliant once he was 'painted' with a Taser, and was apprehended. He was subsequently place in the care of Child Youth and Family.

Police were continuing their inquiries yesterday, and were expecting to make more arrests.

Meanwhile police confirmed that the 15-year-old was implicated in two burglaries at Kaitaia College over the weekend - the intruders were disturbed on both occasions, but the second time got away with a quantity of alcohol from the 'teachers' cupboard' - and with the theft of a car at Oromahoe on Wednesday last week. The vehicle had been sold in Kaeo three days later.

He was also being investigated in relation to the taking of three other vehicles, all of them since recovered, one at Te Kohanga/Shipwreck Bay and the others in Kaitaia.