Have you always thought of New Zealand as a friendly, sleepy country where nothing much ever happens?

In this season of peace and goodwill to all men you may be disappointed to hear it was anything but for the New Zealand police force in the run up to Christmas, culminating with two serious assaults on Christmas Day itself.

Two police officers were assaulted in a drunken riot in the small town of Dargaville on December 25th.

“The two officers were hospitalised after the attack by a group of youths in Dargaville. One had fired his taser twice in a bid to fend off his attackers. Pepper spray was also used to subdue the mob.

One woman allegedly used a brick as a weapon and tried to shoot an officer with his own taser after it was taken from him.

When she was unable to fire it, she smashed it…

One officer was knocked unconscious and as the second officer attempted to protect him, he was kicked in the head and suffered facial bruising.

Police were assisted by the local fire brigade.

Seven people were arrested – five men and two women – on charges ranging from intentional damage, assault on police and escaping custody. Five of the accused, aged between 17 and 28, appeared in Whangarei District Court this morning. Three were remanded in custody. A 16-year-old boy charged with wilful damage is expected to be referred to police youth aid…” more here

At least five police officers have been seriously assaulted in the last week, with assaults in Huntly and Dargaville. Predictably, drunken teenagers were involved in the attacks. source.

A female police officer, only recently recruited into the service, suffered a broken ankle in one of the assaults. For more read New recruit injured in ‘appalling’ attacks on police in the NZ Herald, 24 Dec 2012:

“Appalling” attacks against police officers over the weekend have resulted in a broken ankle for a new female recruit.

“This weekend police officers called to incidents have been subjected to appalling violence by intoxicated people,” police commissioner Peter Marshall said.

“In one event, an officer was called to a dispute over Christmas lights. This resulted in him being seriously assaulted and repeatedly punched in the head.”…

“In another incident a constable who is relatively new to the job had her ankle broken attending a family violence incident. The police had been called to help and this has resulted in a break so severe the constable required surgery.

Members of the public also suffered from grievous crimes over Christmas including Mina Zinck and her family whose house was burned down on Christmas Day:

“A West Auckland family escaped from an inferno after their house was deliberately set on fire early on Christmas morning.

Police are treating the fire in Coburg St, Henderson, as arson – and a neighbour yesterday told how they chased a suspicious man away from the property hours before the blaze…”

Figures supplied by the Fire Service, up until early December, show there have been 214 unlawful or suspicious residential fires in New Zealand this year, with one fatality.

TV3 reported a 17-year-old man had been charged with arson over the Henderson fire.” …more here

For all our NZ youth offending stories click here

You may also be interested in Youth Arrested For Ashburton Mum’s Murder.