The Star: April 06, 2023

The Star Thursday April 6 2023
4
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Kids behind car thefts, burglaries
Onlookers assaulted
• By Nathan Morton
A POLICE officer and two
people were assaulted on
Monday night and a 13-year-old
was road-spiked in a vehicle
incident.
A teenager has been taken
into custody and referred to
youth aid and a 14-year-old
is appearing before the Youth
Court.
On Tuesday a store on
Langdons Rd in Northcote was
robbed shortly after 3pm.
Three youths entered the store
and stole items before making
an attempted escape. Outside
the building, two members of
the public found themselves
involved in the situation and
were assaulted. Police arrived
at the scene and shortly
afterwards, located the suspects.
One of the youths assaulted
a police officer who received
minor injuries as a result.
A 14-year-old was arrested
at the scene and taken into
custody. They were due to
appear before the Youth Court
today in relation to the incident.
Meanwhile, a young teenager
in New Brighton attempted a
joyride on Tuesday night. Police
spotted a vehicle of interest on
Cottonwood St about 2am.
The vehicle did not stop for
police. A spokesperson said
they did not initiate a pursuit.
Instead, road spikes were
deployed and brought the
vehicle to a stop on Castledown
St, only 2km from where the car
was spotted. A 13-year-old was
taken into custody and will be
referred to youth services, police
confirmed.
Petrol station ram-raid
EARLY yesterday morning,
four people were arrested
following a ram-raid at a
NPD petrol station in
Yaldhurst.
The stolen vehicle and suspects
were later found by police in
Ferry Rd, Woolston.
They will be referred to Youth
services.
•From page 1
The 9-year-old understood to
be among the groups is suspected
of being involved in at least two
incidents over the last week
involving stolen cars. In one
of the incidents, a BB-gun was
fired from a vehicle, injuring
someone’s eye.
Canterbury police metro area
commander Superintendent
Lane Todd said police attended
a number of incidents allegedly
involving the same group of
young people last Monday and
Tuesday, including a fleeing
driver incident on Tuesday where
a vehicle they were in failed to
stop when signalled.
“The vehicle fled and a pursuit
was not initiated, and the vehicle
was located crashed a short time
later. There were no injuries and
four young people were taken
into custody. They have been
referred to Youth Services,” Todd
said.
There have been several
incidents involving the groups in
recent weeks, including youths
driving in a convoy of stolen cars
before one crashed into a lamp
post and others using crowbars to
try and break into a dairy before
ramming the doors with a stolen
car.
Police also found two youths
suspected of stealing a car with
fishing knives, a tyre iron and
vise grips. The youths were taken
home, but several hours later they
were found after allegedly trying
to break into a car. Some police
cars have also been rammed by
youths.
A police source said staff were
seeing a “continual drop in age”
in youth offenders.
“I think that’s a very
concerning aspect because for us
it’s now dropping very strongly
into that non-prosecutable group
and that’s causing us headaches
because we can’t bring any
control to that, we can’t bring any
meaningful accountability.
“There is still the activeness of
the higher age level which just
continues on as it always has,
but this younger group what we
are seeing is just that repetitive
nature of their offending
because they’re getting caught,
they’re getting returned home
and they’re out and gone
within hours and back into the
offending.”
Todd said youth offending is
an issue that is being experienced
right across the country at
present, with
Canterbury “no
exception”.
“Police is
committed to
working with
our partners and
communities to
prevent youth
offending, Lane Todd
support victims
of crime, and hold young
offenders to account in a
meaningful and effective way.
“Effectively dealing with youth
offenders provides a unique
opportunity to prevent future
harm in our communities.”
Police were involved in a
number of initiatives aimed at
preventing youth offending and
reoffending.
“We recognise that in order
to prevent future generations
of young people from serious
harm, we need to work in a
collaborative way to address
the underlying causes of youth
offending.”
– NZ Herald
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