A 16-year-old is to spend five years in jail for his part in an attack on Rotorua youth residence staff by three inmates who stole the facility's keys and escaped.
Sentencing the teenager in the Rotorua District Court today, Judge Phillip Cooper noted that, while on the run, the group forced their way into a "plucky" 91-year-old Rotorua woman's home, knocking her out of the wheelchair, leaving her bruised and sore.
However he said the law only allowed him to sentence the youth on the aggravated wounding charge he faced in relation to the youth facility escape on November 17 last year.
A youth court judge had declined to deal with him, sending him on to the district court.
Before sentencing Judge Cooper watched CCTV footage of the attack on the facility staff who were shoved into a door, kicked, punched, knocked to the ground and stomped on, as demands were made for their keys.