KEY POINTS:
Two 14-year-old boys charged with abducting a girl of the same age in a sex attack made a brief appearance in an Auckland court today.
The boys allegedly grabbed the girl and dragged her kicking and screaming into a West Auckland house.
They are charged with abduction for sex, assault with intent to commit sexual violation, indecent assault and aggravated robbery.
The pair were remanded in a youth justice facility to reappear in Waitakere Youth Court in three weeks.
They did not speak while in the dock except to answer yes when Judge Philip Recordon asked if they understood what was happening.
The attack has shocked police, who say abduction for sex is rarely committed by boys so young.
The officer in charge of the investigation said he was appalled that boys of such a young age were behind such a crime.
The girl was walking along the road when the boys allegedly grabbed her handbag on Friday afternoon. She was dragged, kicking and screaming, into a house.
Detective Sergeant Roger Small said the victim - who had known the boys since childhood, but was not related to them - was taken into a bedroom where she was allegedly indecently assaulted.
After a short time, she seized an opportunity when the boys were distracted and escaped from the house.
She ran to her home nearby, told her mother what had happened and police were called.
Mr Small said police used a search warrant on Saturday to find both boys at the home where the alleged attack occurred.
They spent the rest of the weekend in custody after being interviewed.
Both are to appear in Waitakere District Court today, charged with abduction for sex, assault with intent to commit sexual violation, indecent assault and aggravated robbery.
Mr Small said the girl was traumatised, but had good support from her parents, victim support and the police child abuse team.
He praised her ability to keep calm in a traumatic situation.
"We commend her for her actions. She was able to maintain a cool head during the incident, and when the opportunity arose she made a beeline for the door."
Police often dealt with young teenagers accused of indecent assault, Mr Small said, but the level of alleged offending in this case was particularly unusual for 14-year-olds.
"It's a horrendous level of offending at any age," he said. "I am absolutely appalled that someone of that age should be involved in an incident such as this."
It was particularly shocking because the two boys looked so young.
The head of the Waitakere Child Abuse Team, Detective Sergeant Megan Goldie, said it wasn't unusual for the squad to be dealing with two or three serious cases where the offenders were under 12.
But in many cases the victims were relatives or close family friends and the offending had occurred because they were in the same house.
What made this case different was the fact the girl was allegedly dragged off the street.
In 1999 a 14-year-old boy was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in jail after he and an adult dragged a woman off the street. The teenager, who was armed with a bat and a knife, ripped off the woman's underwear and raped her.
