Christchurch Police have charged a 14-year-old with 81 charges following a police investigation into a number of serious incidents last week.

Four youths have now been arrested, three on Thursday and a fourth youth was apprehended on Saturday morning, as first reported by Chris Lynch Media.

 The 14 year old faces 81 charges including assaults with intent to injure, unlawfully takes motor vehicle, aggravated robbery and theft.

He appeared in the Youth Court today and was denied bail.

The other three youths arrested will be dealt with by Youth Aid.

Christchurch Metro Commander Superintendent Lane Todd said police are confident that the four are allegedly responsible for recently reported incidents of vehicle theft and assaults in Christchurch City. 

“We’re pleased to have quickly and comprehensively tackled what has been a significant run of offending by a small group of young people. 

 However it’s hard to see these apprehensions as anything more than an inevitable end to a story that started long before any offence was committed.

 It’s very rare that youth offenders come ‘out of the blue’. We encourage communities to reach out to Police if they’re seeing concerning behaviour amongst their young people.”

Todd said “Tackling this issue takes a multi-agency approach, with prevention at the heart of any solution, along with alternative resolutions for offenders in an effort to break a cycle of offending.

 In Christchurch, like many centres, we run multi-agency programs to support wider whānau who are struggling with tamariki behavioural issues. There are many factors driving youth offending and it takes a wide, focused approach keeping whānau in the centre of developing solutions.”

Todd said police are working with our partners including, Oranga Tāmariki and the Ministry of Justice, as they work to address the drivers of this offending by young people.

Police’s role is very clear: we have an obligation to the community, and we will respond, investigate, apprehend, and hold people to account.”