Constable stabbed twice

Press, 26 November 1979, Page 6

Constable stabbed twice

PA Rotorua A Rotorua policeman is in the intensive-care unit of Rotorua Hospital after being stabbed twice in the cells of the police station on Friday evening.

Constable David John Brown, aged 21, was interviewing a Turangi youth when a man who had escaped custody earlier broke from the holding cell and attacked him with an 18 cm stiletto knife, the police said.

Constable Brown was stabbed in the lower abdomen and leg before the man was overpowered with the aid of the Turangi youth, a policewoman, and a policeman.

Earlier in the evening the attacker had been arrested for allegedly entering a motor-vehicle unlawfully and assaulting the owner when apprehended. After a struggle he was taken to the Rotorua Police Station but escaped while being questioned. He was recaptured after being cornered on the roof of the police annexe and put in the holding cell in the main station.

The man broke the window in the cell, opened the door, and snatched the knife, which had been found on him after he was arrested. He then attacked Constable Brown, who was in a nearby cell with the Turangi youth. A student, aged 21, of no fixed abode, who appeared before Mr P. J. Trapski, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court on Saturday was remanded in custody without plea on five charges including wounding with intent and causing grevious bodily harm.