Wild party ends in arrests

Press, 10 December 1984, Page 1

Wild party ends in arrests

Police in protective gear were pelted with bottles and bricks as they tried to control a wild party in central Christchurch early yesterday morning. The party was one of a number of violent incidents that Christchurch police dealt with at the week-end.

The police have apprehended persons in connection with an alleged rape early on Saturday morning, a number of robberies in Cathedral Square on Saturday evening, and a baseball bat attack on a man at Sumner, also on Saturday evening. A deliberately lit fire also badly damaged the Paparua County Council library in Goulding Avenue on Saturday evening. The police went to a flat at the corner of Kilmore Streeet and Barbadoes Street at 12.45 a.m. yester-

day after a complaint by a nearby resident that bottles were being smashed on the road, said Inspector Mai Griebel.

“A party was being held in the flat above the shop at the intersection,” he said.

A lot of people were on the upstairs veranda shouting abuse at the public and throwing bottles on to the roadway and at cars. These people showered the police with bottles and bricks, said Inspector Griebel. Police staff were withdrawn, issued with protective helmets and shields, and returned.

“They were again showered with bottles, water, bricks, and furniture. The group involved then dispersed,” he said.

By last evening three persons had been arrested in connection with incidents at the party and had been

charged with disorder and assault on the police.

Inspector Griebel said that the police had had to visit the same flat three weeks ago after people there threw bottles on to the road and at cars.

Inspector Griebel said that a tenant at the flat told the police yesterday that he and his flatmates were having a party when uninvited people arrived, including several punk rockers.

The party got out of control. The tenant and his friends locked themselves in a room when they realised that party-goers were “showering” bottles on to the road and at people, Inspector Griebel said. The inside of the flat was “demolished,” but no police were injured nor police vehicles damaged. Two. tenants at the flat

said yesterday that the police had donned their riot gear after a party-goer had thrown a bottle on to the road, and another person had tipped a pot of water on a police officer. Furniture and bottles were thrown at the police when they broke through a door and tried to go up a stairway to the upstairs room to the party. The tenants said that they felt the party was under control until the police arrived. Some uninvited guests had arrived and one had thrown a bottle out the window; but he had been asked to leave. After another incident, a man, aged 33, will appear in the District Court today after a masseuse alleged that she had been raped in a house at Northcote early on Saturday morning. The masseuse, aged 20,

The woman was on call from a Christchurch massage parlour. Police inquiries are continuing into a spate of reported robberies in Cathedral Square from 8 p.m. on Saturday. The police had received at least five complaints and more were expected, said a spokesman. A youth, aged 18. and a man,’ aged 20, have been arrested and will appear in the District Court today charged with robbery. A spokesman said that a group of four were involved in some of the robberies.

A youth, aged 16, had a tooth knocked out after being attacked. The spokesman said that

ran naked from the house into the street, said a police spokesman. She laid a complaint of rape after the police had been called.

only minor items, such as pens, knives, and small sums of cash, were taken from the victims.

A man required treatment at Christchurch Hospital after being hit with a baseball bat in an apparently unprovoked attack in Nayland Street, Sumner, about 11 p.m. on Saturday. A youth, aged 17, had been arrested in connection with the attack and would appear in the District Court tomorrow charged with assault, said the police spokesman.

The incident happened when the man went to check on a report that a person was damaging his motor-cycle, which was parked outside the property. The man was struck on the elbow with the baseball bat but his injuries were not serious.