Seizures grip injured schoolgirl rugby player

HASTINGS - Schoolgirl Nikita Karaitiana, 16, was still fighting for her life in Dunedin Hospital yesterday after a rugby match.

An alleged kick to the head on May 22 at Kaitangata, South Otago, has left Miss Karaitiana drifting in and out of consciousness amid frequent seizures.

The South Otago High School student, playing hooker, is thought to have been kicked during a club match between her Crescent team and Dunedin's Alhambra.

"She's out of her induced coma but she's having up to five seizures in, like, 20 minutes," her sister, Kelly Karaitiana, 25, said from Napier.

Miss Karaitiana was to have had a brain scan on Monday but another seizure put paid to that.

Her sister rejected media reports that Miss Karaitiana did not seek medical attention until days after the match, despite constant headaches.

"She was rushed from the rugby field that Sunday [of the game] to hospital. She was released on Tuesday night but on Wednesday had another big seizure, so they put her into an induced coma in Balclutha hospital from where she was rushed to Dunedin Hospital by helicopter."

An Alhambra rugby player is before the Otago Rugby Football Union judiciary over the incident.

Kelly said she understood her sister went down to place a ball in a ruck when she was hurt.

- NZPA