Knife found after fatal stabbing of youth, 16

A knife has been recovered following a fatal stabbing in Oamaru on Thursday night, but the police still want the public in North Otago to contact them if they find anything unusual.

Detective Sergeant Mike Ryder said yesterday that police had found a knife late on Saturday that was "of interest".

"Until forensic examination is undertaken, we are not ruling out the possibility that other knives of interest exist and still ask people in the Exe and Humber Sts and seafront areas of Oamaru to contact us if they recall or locate anything unusual," he said.

Police did not want to comment yesterday on where the knife was found and did not expect to make any further information available for a few days.

They have named the victim as William Peter Lewis, 16.

He was stabbed in Exe St, near the intersection with Thames St, and died at the scene about 10pm, despite attempts by police and emergency services to save him.

About 30 police, scene-of-crime scientists and others were involved at the peak of the investigation, but the team has been reduced for the next two days to give people, some of whom had been working since the stabbing , a break.

On Saturday afternoon, a 16-year-old Oamaru youth was charged in the Oamaru Youth Court with murder.

He was remanded to appear in the Palmerston North Youth Court next Friday.

The youth appeared before a justice of the peace and was remanded without plea, in custody by consent, to a youth justice residential centre in the Manawatu.

Any information that would identify him was suppressed.

William Lewis's family have requested privacy but released a photograph of him to the media on Saturday afternoon. His parents live in Timaru.

Speaking after Saturday's court appearance, Detective Sergeant Malcolm Inglis, of Dunedin, who was initially overseeing the investigation, said William had attended Waitaki Boys' High School, then obtained a job in the Kurow area where he was working towards an apprenticeship as a mechanic. He was flatting in Oamaru and commuting to work.

Mr Inglis said there had been a disagreement between William and the accused.

The Lewis family plan to have a blessing at the death scene.

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES