Woman bashed by boy aged 14

Press, 11 July 1980, Page 2

Woman bashed by boy aged 14

PA Rotorua . boy, aged 14, bashed a woman and left her in a pool of blood, the Children and Young Persons Court at Rotorua was told yesterday. The assault, in the woman’s hor.o on Wednesday, was unprovoked, jaid Sergeant. E. A. Lines. The boy had beaten the woman with his bare hands. She was taken to the Rotorua Hospital suffering from gross bruising and cuts to the fac?. She required five stitf*’ is to the lip and to both cheeks, and one tooth was knocked out, the Court was told. Judge N. C. Jaine was shown photographs of the woman, and of the bloodstained kitchen where the assault occurred. He said i that he did not propose to make any comment about the “shocking incident." The boy, who admitted robbing Mrs Valma Royce Beckett, aged 34, a mother of two, of $3l at Rotorua on Wednesday, was remanded to July 22 for social welfare and psychiatric reports. Sergeant Lines said that just after 9 a.m. yesterday the boy decided to take a car so that he co. leave Rotorua. He saw a car in an

open garage, and decided to try to take it. He knocked on the door of the house. Mrs Beckett, the sole occupant, called to him to enter. He asked to use the telephone and pretended to make a call. He then went into the kitchen and without provocation, beat Mrs Beckett about the head with his bare hands, demanding the keys to the car. After she said that they were in the car, the boy left her lying in a pool of blood, Sergeant Lines said. The boy then took $3l from Mrs Beckett’s pur and went to the garage, but when he failed to find the keys he returned to his home, where he was tracked by a police dog. A person at the address alleged that the boy had been home all morning, but after questioning he admitted the assault and the robbery.

Sergeant Lines said that the boy had not previously appeared before the Court, but the youth aid section of the police had a dossier on him which indicated that he had had a “shocking attendance record” at school.