Three youths to face charge of manslaughter

Press, 13 March 1986, Page 9

Three youths to face charge of manslaughter

Three youths will appear in the Children and Young Persons Court today to face a joint charge of the manslaughter of James Edward Love, aged 14, who died on Tuesday of head injuries. The youths, all aged 16, had earlier faced charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm but were rearrested at 5.37 p.m. yesterday. They have been taken from the Stanmore Road Boys’ Home, where they were on remand, and spent the night in custody at the Christchurch Central Police Station.

A post-mortem examination yesterday was made on the body of James Love, who was attacked at New Brighton Mall last Friday. Detective Inspector Roger Carson, who heads the police investigation, said that the results of the examination would not

be known for several weeks.

Publicity yesterday about the incident had resulted in several calls from witnesses to the police, he said. One was a third youth who had been attacked in New Brighton Mall last Friday evening.

James Love and Glen Cameron, aged 16, were assaulted as they sat on the footpath. The police have said that James Love suffered severe brain damage and possibly a fractured skull as a result of kicks in the head.

He was taken to Christchurch Hospital on Saturday evening after his sister found him convulsing in his bedroom at their home in Aranui.

The boy’s condition continued to deteriorate and he was moved to the hospital’s intensive-care unit. He died there about 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday.