Three jailed for vicious beating of Christchurch teen

Three young men have been jailed for the prolonged beating and kidnapping of a 14-year-old boy who was held in a bicycle storage cage and bashed unconscious in an inner-city alleyway.

Two of them were living rough on the streets of Christchurch at the time, and getting by on an invalid's benefit one of them was receiving.

Name suppression was lifted today on the youngest who was aged 15 at the time, Te Arai Toka, and it can now be reported that he is the brother of one of the others involved, 18-year old Hautapu Paikea Toka.

The boy who was bashed said in the victim impact statement handed to Christchurch District Court Judge David Saunders: "I was pretty lucky not to have been hurt more, considering what they did to me."

Police said the incident took place in Kivers Lane, which runs between Cashel Street and Lichfield Street, one night last September.

Te Arai Toka was jailed for 20 months after being found guilty of the charge of kidnapping at a trial last month. Hautapu Toka was jailed for two years after admitting charges of intentionally injuring the victim and kidnapping but he will be able to apply for home detention if a suitable address can be found.

David Michael Witchall, 20, was found guilty of intentionally injuring the victim at the same trial, and was jailed for three years three months - a sentence increased because of his record for violence.

When the incident occurred, Witchall had been out of jail for only about a week after serving a term for aggravated robbery and assault on a prison officer. The crown accused Witchall of being the instigator of the bashing, which apparently happened in retaliation for comments made earlier in the day.

Hautapu Toka is disabled, and had been living rough on the streets for some time. He was sleeping on cardboard inside bicycle cages near the Bus Exchange.

His sentence was reduced because of his medical issues, his early guilty pleas, and the fact that he played a lesser role in the bashing. Judge Saunders considered a home detention sentence but the family's address was ruled unsuitable.

The judge wanted him to take alcohol and drug counselling so that he would not return to living rough after his release.

He noted Te Arai Toka had already served about nine months in the Te Puna Wai youth justice facility and this meant he would soon be eligible for release from his prison term. He hoped that he would then be able to live with his family, and got assurances in the court from the youth and his mother that he would attend vocational or educational courses as required.

He refused the application for continued name suppression.

- NZPA