Boy rescued from car after park workers suspect indecent act

An elderly man has been charged with performing an indecent act on a child after members of the public pulled the boy from the man's car outside a Hamilton park.

Police have not ruled out the possibility of other victims.

The 69-year-old Hamilton man was arrested and charged after the incident on Friday, which police said took place during a touch rugby tournament at Tauhara Park. He appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Saturday and Monday over the alleged incident involving a 12-year-old boy.

Detective Sergeant Carl Moon of the Hamilton CIB said two workers at the Rototuna park witnessed concerning behaviour between the man and boy in a black Honda Civic hatchback car in an adjoining carpark. "Fortunately for the child they took the appropriate step of removing him from the car and contacted us."

He said detectives had a large amount of information to work through and police were not ruling out that there could be other victims.

Detectives want to hear from anyone at the park, which also has golf and mini-golf courses, who may have seen the pair or witnessed anything that "wasn't right".

Twilight Touch organiser Josh Benge said about 200 players would have been at the bottom level of the park for the Friday night tournament.

He was not aware of any of his team seeing anything suspicious.

After the man was taken into custody the boy was given support before being taken home. The man was to reappear in court on December 9.

Police said the incident was not related to one in Rototuna last Wednesday when an elderly man in a Mitsubishi hatchback reportedly tried to grab a 16-year-old boy off the street.

CAN YOU HELP?
Anyone with information on Friday night's incident can contact Mr Moon at the Hamilton Police Station on 07 858 6200 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.