Knife incident outside Hamilton school

Hamilton police were called to Fairfield College this morning after two boys were threatened with a knife by other students.

"It appears two boys, who are students at the school, were confronted by a group of four other students, all boys aged 14 to 15 years old," said Inspector Karen Henrikson.

"Members of the group demanded cigarettes from the victims and when they said they didn't have any they were punched, assaulted with an umbrella and threatened with a knife by members of that group."

The four offenders fled on foot but were caught by police nearby.

Two 14-year-olds appeared in Hamilton District Court today in relation to the incident, a third youth was referred to Youth Aid and the fourth boy was interviewed and released without further action, said police.

"With this incident following on from a similar incident at another school last month, police will be working closely with Ministry of Education officials and school principals to identify ways to reduce the risk of any reoccurance," said Inspector Henrikson.

- NZ Herald staff