KEY POINTS:
Residents of a Porirua suburb are alarmed a teenage sexual predator is playing with neighbourhood children, despite being under a 24-hour supervision order.
The 18-year-old has allegedly committed a string of sexual offences, including some against children.
He has never been charged because of his age at the time of the offending but has spent time in psychiatric care.
The Dominion Post reported today authorities feared his chances of reoffending were so high he was under full-time, one-on-one supervision in his Cannons Creek flat.
Angry neighbours said he often wandered off alone for hours at a time, playing with their children, or arriving uninvited in their back yards.
Child, Youth and Family said although the young man was under 24-hour watch, it had no power over him.
CYF deputy chief executive Ray Smith said a child turning 17 legally became an adult.
"At this point, effectively, we're limited as any other parent of an 18 or 19-year-old is."
CYF had placed the teenager under additional guardianship, which meant they could offer support and mentoring, if the subject agreed to it.
Unless he committed an offence, authorities were powerless to lock him up, and when he turned 20, CYF would have no input at all.
The young man lives near a school attended by some of his alleged victims.
Police said they were aware of him, and residents said word had spread among the community.
Many were angry he was not being properly monitored.
Single mother Kellie Hapi, who has four children aged under 11, said he wandered into her back yard uninvited and she was angry she was not warned about him.
The residents' fears follow the case of Hawke's Bay sex offender Mataroa Barton, 18, who repeatedly climbed a fence and peered in the window of a five-year-old girl earlier this year while he was under 24-hour CYF care.
He was given a 12-month deferred sentence in the Napier District Court in May.
Porirua city councillor Litea Ah Hoi said the Cannons Creek situation "reeked" of the Barton failures, and the community should have been warned of his placement.
- NZPA
