Government cracks down on alcohol industry, Seoul searches for answers following night club tragedy and bird of the year to be crowned in the latest New Zealand Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
A 14-year-old is facing 81 charges including assault with intent to injure, unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, aggravated robbery and theft, police have confirmed.
He appeared in the Youth Court today.
Christchurch Metro area commander Lane Todd confirmed a total of four youths had now been arrested, three on Thursday and after extensive inquiries, a fourth youth was arrested on Saturday morning.
A helicopter was hired by police to assist with finding and arresting the 14-year-old in question. Photo / File
Todd said police were confident the four arrested were allegedly responsible for recently reported incidents of car theft and assaults across the city. Footage capturing several assaults involving teenagers circulated on social media over the weekend.
A helicopter was hired by police to assist with finding and arresting the 14-year-old in question, Todd said. A police staff member rode in the helicopter to help find the offender, who posed a “serious risk to [the] community and themselves”.
“We’re pleased to have quickly and comprehensively tackled what has been a significant run of offending by a small group of young people,” said Todd.
“However it’s hard to see these apprehensions as anything more than an inevitable end to a story that started long before any offence was committed.”
Todd said it was rare to see youth offenders come “out of the blue”. He encouraged communities to reach out to police if they saw concerning behaviour among young people.
“Tackling this issue takes a multi-agency approach, with prevention at the heart of any solution, along with alternative resolutions for offenders to break a cycle of offending,” he said.
“In Christchurch, like many centres, we run multi-agency programs to support wider whānau who are struggling with tamariki behavioural issues. There are many factors driving youth offending and it takes a wide, focused approach keeping whānau in the centre of developing solutions.”
The 14-year-old appeared in the Youth Court today. Photo / File
Police were working with partners including Oranga Tāmariki and the Ministry of Justice to address the drivers of the young people’s alleged offending.
“Police’s role is very clear: we have an obligation to the community, and we will respond, investigate, apprehend, and hold people to account.”
The assaults, which were shown in three separate videos circulating on social media over the week reflects the city’s surge in youth crime over recent months - with instances of school gang attacks at shopping malls and innocent girls assaulted at bus stops.
The latter incident occurred only last weekend, when a Christchurch mother saw her 12-year-old daughter and best friend involved in a “random attack”.
Four weeks ago, a Spreydon woman said she’d been struggling with a group of youths jumping over her fence and attempting to break into her house.
“Youth crime is definitely getting worse and has been particularly bad over recent years,” the woman said.
