Paintball shooting case
A Raumanga man is yet to enter a plea to charges relating to shooting six people with a paintball gun including a young woman who suffered a serious eye injury. Shane Paraha, 18, appeared in Whangarei District Court yesterday over the December incident. He faces five charges of assault with a weapon and a further charge of causing grievous bodily harm to an 18-year-old female. He was remanded on bail to January 31 when he would be required to enter pleas. The young woman and five other people were waiting for a taxi outside Bank Street Traders, on the corner of Bank and Water Sts, when a car slowly drove through the intersection and a passenger pulled out a paintball gun and allegedly shot "rapid fire" at the group about 3.33am.
Police pursuit abandoned
Police officers were directed to abandon a pursuit that reached speeds of up to 140km/h in a 50km/h zone. A police spokesman said a driver tried to avoid a checkpoint on Vinegar Hill Rd, Whangarei, about 8.08pm on Tuesday. The Honda Accord had been stolen from Ellerslie in Auckland earlier in the day and had been involved in a petrol drive-off in Wellsford. Officers pursued the car from Tikipunga to Whangarei central before it turned on to Riverside Dr and officers were directed by senior staff to abandon the pursuit because of the speed. The car was last seen on Dave Cullen Dr.
NorthTec pop-up info
NorthTec's town centre pop-up shop will open in Whangarei next week, for potential students to drop in and find out about study options for 2017. The temporary shop at 17-19 Rathbone St will operate for three weeks, from Monday to February 12. It will be open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm (excluding Northland Anniversary Day and Waitangi Day), with information about all NorthTec programmes starting in semester one, which gets under way in February. The shop will also be the venue for demonstrations by NorthTec's hospitality, science and horticulture tutors.
Correction
A story in yesterday's Northern Advocate about the death of prominent Maori broadcaster Kingi Ihaka referred to Mr Ihaka as Mr Kingi. This was a production error. We apologise for the mistake.
Teen father disarmed
Police relieved a 14-year-old Kaitaia boy of a knife that he had armed himself with, and which he said he had had no intention of using, after an argument with his mother on Saturday. The boy and his 15-year-old girlfriend were the parents of a 4-week-old baby, a police spokesman said. The young father said he had taken offence at his mother's criticism of his parenting skills.