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NICHOLAS BOYACK / THINGS
The attackers threw the knife at a 13-year-old boy and demanded that he hand over his bicycle.
A 9-year-old boy threatened a teenager with a utility knife in an attempt to steal his bicycle.
The teenager’s father, David Goodwin, said his 13-year-old son and two friends were threatened, assaulted and harassed by a group of about six, between the ages of nine and 14, in front of the Queensgate Mall in Lower Hutt on Saturday. in the afternoon.
The incident left the boy “shocked” and Goodwin now wonders if it is safe for his son, who he did not wish to be named, to go to the mall alone.
“If you can’t go to the mall and hang out with your friends and have fun, where can you go?” he said.
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A cutter knife, similar to the one pictured, was taken during an assault on a teenager in Lower Hutt.
Police did not confirm the age of the person who presented the knife, but did confirm that they received a report from a group of youths threatening another group of youths near a bus stop on Knights Rd.
A spokesperson for the mall confirmed that Saturday’s incident occurred.
Goodwin said a security guard at the scene told him the boy was nine years old.
She said her son had been to the mall with two other friends when the group approached them on two separate occasions.
The first time one of his friends got punched outside of Specsavers at the mall.
Later, when their son left the mall to get his bike, the group approached them again.
Goodwin said her son was punched several times in the back of the head and kicked in the legs by the group, who demanded that he hand over his bike.
MONIQUE FORD / Fairfax NZ / Stuff
The father of a teenager who was assaulted said that mall staff told him that the group that assaulted his son had already been invaded.
While on the ground during the assault, a boy pulled out the knife, a yellow cutter.
Hutt Valley Area Commanding Inspector Dion Bennett said police attended and spoke with one of the victims, who sustained minor injuries but refused medical treatment.
“The police identified the criminals and spoke to them.”
Goodwin, who arrived at the mall shortly after his son called him about the assault, said that mall security told him the group had already been invaded, but that he kept returning to the mall.
“He said this group of kids antagonizes and harasses other kids, randomly, or even if they know them, on their phones and things like that. It happens almost every other weekend. ”
Monique Ford / Stuff
The community attended a crime and safety meeting in Wainuiomata earlier this month.
A spokesperson for the mall said the mall’s security teams and management were alerted to the situation, responded quickly and notified the police immediately.
“Queensgate Mall has strong security procedures in place for the safety and well-being of its retailers, customers and the public, and continues to cooperate with law enforcement on the matter.”
Two community meetings have been held in Lower Hutt in the past three weeks, amid concerns about youth crime and safety.
The first meeting started after a 20-year-old man was stabbed in broad daylight on Wainuiomata’s main shopping street.
Hutt South MP Ginny Andersen is planning a series of initiatives to improve juvenile delinquency and antisocial behavior in Wainuiomata.
