Youth absconds for fifth time

Press, 8 July 1986, Page 3

Youth absconds for fifth time

The Christchurch police are angry that a youth, aged 15, has absconded from the Stanmore Road Boys’ Home a fifth time while awaiting trial on a charge of attempting to rape a woman, aged 74.

The youth, whose name cannot be given for legal reasons, was still at large late last evening. A spokesman for the home confirmed that the youth had walked out on Saturday morning and had not been seen since.

The management of the home had decided against holding the youth in a secure unit. The home was “not a prison,” said the spokesman. However, the Christchurch police are annoyed that the youth has absconded again.

“We are the ones who have to find him each time,” said the spokesman.

The youth absconded from the home four times while on remand earlier this year. In April, he was given bail with a curfew

condition. Last week, the youth appeared in the Children and Young Persons Court charged on another matter when he was supposed to be at his mother’s home under a curfew provision.

The youth under curfew was remanded by Judge Fraser to July 14 for sentence, in the custody of the Social Welfare Department. The Judge said that the previous custody arrangement had obviously not worked.