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Four teenagers have been charged with robbing schoolchildren at knifepoint in upmarket Auckland suburbs.
A 16-year-old, two 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old from Otahuhu are accused of a spate of street crimes - netting just $62 and four cellphones.
Police allege the 16-year-old was the ringleader, threatening victims with
a small kitchen knife while demanding money and cellphones.
The other three are believed to have watched from a getaway car.
The four have been charged with five aggravated robberies in Mission Bay, St Johns and Ellerslie.
The incidents have traumatised at least one of the seven victims, an 11-year-old St Johns boy attacked with his 14-year-old brother as they walked home from school.
Their mother, Emma Diack, didn't want her sons named or identified but said the younger boy was too upset to sleep properly for days.
Diack, who works as a part-time actress on Shortland Street and Outrageous Fortune, said her family no longer felt safe in the suburb. She said she was speaking out to warn parents that unprovoked attacks were not confined to less-affluent areas.
"It's so unfair. We bring up our children correctly so they know right from wrong. Then these people come in and ruin our lives. I'm so angry, but so scared at the same time."
The woman said her sons were told to hand over their mobile phones and wallets. "My younger boy cried and said, 'I'm not old enough to have a phone'." She was proud the older boy looked after his brother and gave up their belongings so they wouldn't be harmed but said the younger son had trouble sleeping. "He kept asking me, 'What if he comes back?' I had to leave the light on in his room."
Police allege that the attacks started on May 21 when a 17-year-old boy had his phone and wallet taken in Mission Bay.
Two days later, a 15-year-old girl was robbed in a park in Ellerslie.
The brothers were attacked on May 26 but their wallets were handed back because they contained no money.
Half-an-hour later, two 12-year-olds had their wallets and phones stolen in Ellerslie. Soon after, a 13-year-old was threatened with a knife and forced to hand over $2.
Detective Sergeant Mark Rowbottom said an off-duty police officer saw the final robbery and followed the suspects. They escaped but he noted down the registration plate.
Rowbottom said some of the cellphones and a knife were found at an Otahuhu house on May 29 and a 16- and 17-year-old were arrested.
Another 17-year-old and an 18-year-old were arrested at another house on the same street the following day. "If that off-duty cop hadn't seen that car we may not have got a result. It was luck and good investigation from then on that we got the result."
Rowbottom said the victims were frightened but did the right thing by handing over their possessions.
"These people didn't bite off more than they could chew."
The four defendants appeared before the Youth Court on May 30.
The eldest three were released on bail but the 16-year-old was remanded in custody. They are due to reappear on July 3.
