Police trying to identify teenage stabbing victim

Police are investigating the fatal stabbing of a teenage boy at a party in south Auckland overnight.

Detective Senior Sergeant Gary Lendrum said the boy, aged 18, was killed just after midnight at a Manurewa house party.

Police are yet to identify the victim, Mr Lendrum said.

He is described as a light-skinned Maori or Polynesian with short black hair, wearing white trousers and boxer shorts.

A 19-year-old man has been arrested in relation to the crime.

Police have spoken to half of the 30-40 intoxicated party-goers, all aged between 13-19 years.

The youth's death is at least the fourth stabbing that police are investigating since Friday.

Last night they arrested a fugitive who allegedly left a broken knife embedded in another man's face before fleeing from a North Shore house early on Friday.

Police said Vance Paraki Tuheke was found at a house in Ruawai, between Auckland and Dargaville.

"He was arrested without incident and his estranged partner and two-year-old son were present in the house with him," police said.

Tuheke has been formally charged with attempted murder and is to appear in North Shore District Court tomorrow.

The 36-year-old victim of the attack was left with a knife blade in his face from just below his left eye through his nasal cavity and across to the other side of his face.

Surgeons removed the blade during a delicate operation at Auckland Hospital and the victim was expected to make a full recovery with no lasting damage.

In Christchurch, two young women were in stable conditions in hospital after both being stabbed on Friday night.

Police said the stabbings happened about 8.30pm in the Stanmore Road area and were the result of a domestic dispute.

The women, aged 20 and 22, suffered multiple stab wounds.

Police would not release more details of the incident.

In Rotorua, up to three people were being sought in connection with the stabbing of a man outside a Rotorua bar early yesterday.

Detective Sergeant John Wilson from the Rotorua CIB, said the victim was a 25-year-old Rotorua man who was stabbed eight times in the back.

Mr Wilson said the victim was released from Rotorua Hospital yesterday.

The man suffered various injuries, the most serious of which are multiple stab wounds, including a punctured lung, Mr Wilson said.

He said police were making progress on the case, but no arrests have been made yet.

- NZPA