October 23, 2018
A homicide inquiry, shark attack, double road fatality and a ram raid which led to a police pursuit are among a string of incidents which has kept Northland's emergency services busy over the long weekend.
Two people in a stolen silver hatchback style vehicle carried out a ram raid at a liquor store on Victoria St in Dargaville around 10.50pm on Sunday. Police said the pair allegedly got away with bottles of spirits.
Then at 6.30am yesterday , a Highway Patrol unit spotted the vehicle on State Highway 1 at Mata, south of Whangārei.
The vehicle was pursued into Whangārei's CBD where it was spiked along the way, before the pair were arrested in Laurie Hall Park around 6.45am.
A 15-year-old boy from Whangārei will be referred to Youth Aid, while a 19-year-old Whangārei man will appear in Whangārei District Court tomorrow .
A shop worker at Empire Liquor Centre confirmed the ram raid and said her boss was still working through the stolen items. She said repairs were expected when people, including tradesmen, got back from holiday.
Meanwhile, a Moerewa man is expected to face serious charges after a crash on Sunday which left two people critically injured. The two-car crash happened on State Highway 1 on Sunday between Hautapu Rd and Nisbet St, about 7.30pm.
The man, who was a driver of one of the cars, was initially missing after the crash, but handed himself into police yesterday. In the other car was a mother and her three children aged 9, 7, and 4 from Auckland. The 33-year-old woman is in a critical condition in Auckland Hospital.
Crews of the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter and Northland Emergency Services Trust treated patients at the scene and performed rescue operations.
Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust communications manager Lincoln Davies said a young boy had suffered a head injury.
"He was transported by ambulance to Bay of Islands Hospital alongside our intensive care paramedic who needed to perform a rapid sequence intubation to assist his breathing," Davies said.
He was then flown to Starship, where he is now in a serious condition.
The two other children are in serious and moderate conditions at Whangārei Hospital.
The two passengers in the other vehicle were taken to hospital. Their conditions were not known at edition time.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesperson said two crews attended the accident and extricated one person from a vehicle.
The other car was engulfed in flames when the crews arrived but was soon extinguished.
SH1 was closed for more than five hours, with diversions put in place via SH11.
The NZ Transport Agency said the road was reopened at 12.45am.
Meanwhile a motorcycle rider was taken to hospital after sustaining injuries in a crash with a car and trailer north of Whangārei.
The crash happened around 8.30am yesterday on Jubilee Rd, between Marua and Opuawhanga, east of Whakapara.
A spokeswoman for the St John Ambulance service said the person had suffered moderate injuries.
Those incidents came as police remained at Otaika Accommodation Park and the surrounding area on Otaika Rd as part of a homicide investigation.
A man arrived at the park at 12.30am on Sunday with critical chest injuries, believed to be from a stabbing, and died at the scene. A post mortem of the man's body was being conducted in Auckland yesterday. No arrests have been made over the homicide.
On Saturday, two women were killed in a crash on SH1 south of Whangārei. Both were the front seat passengers in their vehicles. One was 42-year-old Kerry Sargent from Gloucester, England and the other was 65-year-old Mary Peneamena from Auckland. Five others were involved in the crash, with two suffering serious injuries.
On Friday evening, Whangārei surfer Andrew Brough was attacked by a great white shark at Baylys Beach, near Dargaville.
The 25-year-old has undergone surgery for deep bite wounds to his left arm. His surfboard was left with a shark tooth in it.
