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Posts Tagged ‘Youth violence’

NZ Not A Walk In The Park – updated

January 24, 2012 3 comments

Update: 21 year old Rotorua baker Rawiri James Samuel and an un-named 20 year old male have been charged with murder and Two youths aged 14 and 15  were later charged with assault in connection with the death in Kuirau Park. Police have retrieved property belong to the deceased man, Roman Henry Skorek, and have searched properties in Rotorua. 

Mr Skorek suffered stab wounds to his face and body during the attack. He had recently arrived from Niue to Rotorua and had been staying at the  Crash Palace Backpackers hostel in Rotorua every summer for the last 5 years. He is believed to have no family in New Zealand but has a daughter who lives in the United States.

Our sincere condolences are extended to Mr Skorek’s family and friends.

-/-

On the day that police said they were “confident” that the savage death of a 64 year old Polish man in Rotorua’s Kuirau Park yesterday morning wasn’t gang related (are gangs and their prospects supposed to leave business cards with their victims now and how can four perps not constitute a gang ?) we hear that a middle aged man was beaten up for wearing the wrong colour T shirt in Napier.

Two teenage youths from the small town of Napier, “Black Power” country,  have been charged for mugging a man who dared to wear a black and red T shirt on their turf just before Christmas.

The NZ Herald covered the story, saying

“The youths, aged 16 and 18, will appear in Napier District Court on charges of aggravated robbery and injuring with intent to injure.

Police said the 52-year-old victim had gone to the shops at Greenmeadows on December 23 when he was approached. One of the alleged attackers told him: “This is BP (Black Power) country” and said they were going to take his shirt off him. The shirt’s colours, black and red, are those of the rival Mongrel Mob gang.

The man refused to hand over his shirt and was attacked when he came out of the shop…” more here

The irony is that these two young thugs probably aren’t even Black Power members, but prospects. No doubt their membership chances will be much improved once they’ve served their sentence.

Surely there must be more fruitful and rewarding things for young men to do in Napier?

Kuirau Park Sex Attack

On Sunday evening a 15 year old girl was attacked by a man in the same park where the 60 year old man was found dead. Police think the attack may’ve been sexually motivated. According to a report in Stuff Kuirau Park has a reputation for sexual activity and a 13 year old girl was assaulted in a reserve in the suburb of Fordlands in late November.

Hot Pool Death

Our readers may remember eight year old Toromon Toromon, who was playing in council owned Kuirau Park park with family and friends late Dec 2010, when he accidentally fell into one of the thermal pools. Sadly the little boy died from his injuries in hospital. For more read Hot Pool Fencing and Signage Under Scrutiny In Kuirau Recreational Park and Child Dies After Rotorua Hot Pool Plunge – updated

Rotorua parks: not such a safe places for children, parents take note. Take care how you dress them too:

New Zealand. Any Colour So Long As It’s Black : 4 year old attacked for wearing a red T-shirt in Whakatane and a man gets bashed in New Plymouth because his dog had a red leash.

Supermarket Frenzy

Take care in Rotorua’s supermarkets too. This is a video of two security guards getting wacked by a mother and daughter team earlier this month, it soon went viral

Don’t get caught up in a brawl when shoplifters are challenged. It is socially acceptable in New Zealand to just stand-by and watch – there is no obligation to lend assistance.

Eve Margaret Campbell, 50, and her daughter Cherylly Campbell, 30 later appeared in court charged with aggravated assault.

Categories: New Zealand Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Theo Kriel Jailed For 11.5 Years Minimum

March 23, 2010 6 comments

Theo Kriel was today given a life imprisonment for the murder of Liberty Rose Templeman.

He must serve a minimum period of 11.5 years before he can be considered for parole. He must also serve a concurrent sentence of 6 months for indecent assault.

Stuff.co.nz had an account of the hearing:

“Life imprisonment means just that. Unless you satisfy the prison board otherwise, you will be in jail for the rest of your life,” Justice Raynor Asher told Kriel.

The teenage Kriel was found guilty of murder and indecent assault after a trial last month which heard how in November 2008, when he was just 14, he beat and strangled Liberty, 15, and dumped her body in a creek.

The judge said the fact that Kriel was a youth and not a very mature one at the time of the murder was a factor in his crime.

“At the time of the murder, although possessed with considerable height and strength, you were immature.”

“Your calmness in the days that followed was of a concern, it was a blankness,” the judge said.

“You acted as a child.

“I accept that your terrible action was out of character; this is confirmed by the professional reports that have been prepared in the 18 months that you have been in custody.”

“I see the drivers as being anger driven by we know not what, and then panic and the desire not to be caught.”

“It would be manifestly unjust to impose a minimum sentence of 17 years.”

The judge’s starting point was 13 years imprisonment.

“I am entirely satisfied that the attack on her was unprovoked,” the judge said.

“You appear to remove yourself from the reality of what you’ve done.”

Kriel, 16, sat between his two guards in the dock. He had a shaved head and was wearing a white and grey striped shirt and loose pants.

He sat slouched, head dipped low, mouth slightly agape. His eyes shifted across to Templeman family members and later at the judge. His stare was blank.

“The damage is not just limited to you, it extends to Liberty’s close group of friends who will live their life with the loss of such a close and dear friend,” the judge said.

The wider Kerikeri community had been shocked by this brutal and inexplicable killing, he said.

“She was a very special and talented woman, with a very exciting future,” the judge said.

The judge said he had no doubt that it was a chance circumstance Liberty and Kriel had ended up walking together. He said the precise details of what happened after Liberty and Kriel crossed over the bridge on their walk together was unclear.

“You are the only living witness and you have given four different version of events,” the judge said to Kriel.

The judge said the inherent problem with Kriel’s version of event was that it was unlikely that Kriel could have thought that he was threatened with police action if all he had done was accidentally push Liberty into the stream.

What seemed more likely, the judge said, was that Kriel had made a sexual advance on Liberty and she had punched Kriel, leaving a red mark on his chest. That was speculation though, he said.

The judge said after that attack Kriel had acted as if nothing had happened and glibly lied to Liberty’s parents and then police. “On the Friday you came into the police station with your parents.”

“In that third statement you confessed to killing Liberty,” the Judge said. “

The sentence is comparable to that given to Jahche Broughton, who was 14 when he bashed Karen Aim to death in Taupo. Broughton received a life sentence with a minimum non parole period of 12 years.

Categories: Great place to raise kids, Kerikeri, Libby Templeman, NZ not as safe as you think, Sex attacks, Theo Kriel, violence, Violence against women, Violence on the Streets, Violent Crime, Youth Crime, Youth offending, Youth violence Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Another Body Found In Christchurch

September 14, 2009 Leave a comment

Christchurch, the city keen to keep itself out of contention for the title of the nation’s Murder Capital suffered another death last night, thought to be the sixth this year.

View Larger Map of Burrows Place, Christchurch

Police were called to Burrows Place in the suburb of Ilam at around 6.15pm and found a seriously injured woman and the body of a man. A homicide investigation is now to be underway and police are said to be searching for the husband of the woman who was injured.

In a bizarre coincidence yesterday another Christchurch man accused of murder was granted leave to apply for ‘electronic bail’ despite police opposition to him being allowed conventional bail.

Baz Michael Edmonds, 39,  is presently charged with murder and assault by stabbing after the death of Andre de la Mare in Olliviers Rd, Phillipstown, on August 25. He is also charged with the cultivation of cannabis. It will take around 15 days for his application to be decided on. Can anything be gained by allowing this man back into the community, even with a tag, and why aren’t police views on his release being taken more seriously? It’s hardly going to act as a deterrent to others.

Even when they’re handed down murder sentences in New Zealand are notoriously light in comparison to other countries. Even ‘life’ sentences for the most shocking and brutal cases of homicide seldom have non-parole periods greater than 18 years.

Christchurch has suffered a spate of violent deaths in recent times which include 4 people under the age of 18:
* 2 women recently found buried beneath a house in Wainoni
* Mellory Manning beaten, stabbed, stangled and dumped in the Avon River
* Andre James De la Mare died after being stabbed in Phillipstown
* Tala Seleni, 55, and Melissa Nina Adcock, 32, were found dead from gunshot wounds in a Linwood council flat
* Timothy Constable died from stab wounds on a Christchurch street
* 15 year old Marie Davis raped and murdered by a convicted rapist
* 16-year-old Sean Martin William Philip Finnerty-Gallagher bashed and died in Christchurch
* Deaf woman Emma Agnew, murdered and dumped in Spencer Park
* Taxi driver Abdulrahman Ikhtiari stabbed to death in central Christhchurch.
* Kerry Leigh Downey, 52, strangled and dumped on the Port Hills
* Lipine Sila deliberately drove into a crowd of partygoers, killed two young girls Hannah Rossiter (16) and Jane Young (16) and badly injured eight others

Categories: Christchurch, Ilam, murder, NZ not as safe as you think, Youth violence Tags: , , , ,

Second Night Of Rioting In Dunedin

September 12, 2009 Leave a comment

From SMH.com.au

“A second night of drunken disorder has rocked Dunedin following the arrival of the annual Undie 500 car rally in the city.

Again facing off against a mob of about 600 people in North Dunedin’s Castle Street area, police in riot gear used pepper spray to subdue and disperse the hordes throughout Saturday night. Students again lit fires and pelted police with bottles.

The crowd advanced on officers, “challenging the police line”, after police tried to grab a man, Inspector Dave Campbell said on Sunday.

“Many students were pepper sprayed and officers had to call for more supplies as some had emptied their canisters on those students,” Mr Campbell said.

Police arrested between 50 and 60 people. This follows the 20 arrests made on Friday night. The weekend’s violence and disorder saw the highest number of arrests in recent years…….”

More

Categories: Dunedin, Education, NZ not as safe as you think, Violence on the Streets, Youth violence Tags: , , , , ,

Another Schoolgirl Brawl – In Wellington Mall

September 3, 2009 Leave a comment
yahoo.co.nz

“There has been another ugly incident involving two groups of school students in Wellington.
Police say they attended an incident at Westfield mall in Lower Hutt yesterday afternoon because of reports of fighting between two groups of girls. One witness described seeing some of the students from rival schools in the Hutt Valley having blood on their school uniforms.
Police made no arrests as the 30 to 40 girls involved in the fight ran off as officers arrived.”
No word yet about the schools that were involved.
Update: One report on Huttnz.co.nz alleged that the schools involved were Hutt Valley High School and Wainuiomata High School. This has yet to be confirmed officially.
Residents of Wainuiomata were recently banned from a hotel in Palmerston North for ‘bad behaviour’ and HVHS was involved in a stoush in February after which 9 people were arrested for unlawful assembly.
See also: “Schools may leave pupils to brawl - Teachers who feel unsafe breaking up fights may leave brawling pupils to it, as schools try to cope with a surge in incidents involving weapons.”
For today’s posts click here

Categories: Education, Hutt Valley High School, School violence, schools, Violence on the Streets, Wainuiomata High School, Youth violence Tags: , , , , , ,
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