‘Not fit for a dog’

Press, 7 December 1978, Page 3

‘Not fit for a dog’

PA Auckland Hardened policemen yesterday described a Kingsland house they raided in the morning as “not fit for a dog to live in.” The policemen, working on “Operation Disco,” swooped on the house at 8 a.m. and took away four boys and one girl aged between 13 and 16. The five will be placed in Social Welfare Department care. At first glance the small, brightly painted house looked passable. But inside, every room was filled with the stench of rotting food plagued by flies. The fireplaces were clogged with half-burned rubbish and threadbare carpets were infested by fleas. Blankets nailed over those windows which were

not boarded over gave the house a depressing gloom. A double bed in one of the two bedrooms was piled high with grubby mats and blankets. In the other room was a single bed and a tattered armchair in which someone had been sleeping. The bathroom was filthy without any signs of soap, shampoo, or towels. In the back yard, a smouldering mattress was surrounded by dozens of beer bottles, broken glass, and rubbish. Neighbours said that children living in the house had spent last week-end “cleaning out” the earthen-floor garage to accommodate friends. None of the neighbours wanted their names desclosed because they feared reprisals from the children who lived in the house.

They said that up to 20

children had lived in the house from time to time with an elderly man. Neighbours had padlocked their letter boxes, put extra locks on their doors, and installed burglar alarms to stop breakins.

Another neighbour said she had hoped the house would catch fire as the children had burned the mattress in the back yard. The police took in another six children on Tuesday night when they revisited a house and a flat in Symonds Street where many disco kids had previously been found. “Operation Disco” began last Thursday night and has so far resulted in more than 60 children being charged, placed in welfare care, warned, or reported for investigation by the police youth-aid section.