Boy, 13, charged with bashing teacher

A Northland high school student has been charged with attacking a teacher with a garden tool grabbed from a hardware store.
The Kamo High School teacher beaten in the attack was not in class yesterday.
He is still recovering from the attack which left him shaken and bruised, and fearing for his life.
A 13-year-old Kamo High School student has been charged with assaulting the teacher with a weapon, threatening to do grievous bodily harm and two charges of theft.
The teacher is believed to have caught the student smoking in the school grounds on Friday and was escorting him to an administration block when the student left the school grounds.
The teacher followed the boy toward the nearby Kamo shopping centre.
As the student passed Hammer Hardware he allegedly grabbed a pair of long-handled pruners from a display and turned on the teacher.
"I was in fear of my life ... It was just instinct to protect myself and I don't know how many times I was hit," the teacher of four years told the Northern Advocate.
The outcome could have been much worse, he said, if a child or a frail person had been attacked.
He was unsure when he would return to work: "It's still very raw ... I'll go back but I need to feel safe."
School principal Bernard Taffs confirmed the student had been suspended and the school's board of trustees had been informed.
"There is a legal process that must be followed and the board has been fully informed."
He said the incident was serious, but it had been a "one-off" and did not happen on school grounds.
A witness, who did not want to be named, had chased the student and instructed another bystander to ring police.
"I followed about 20 metres behind. I wasn't going to let him go."
Police caught the student near a medical centre.
Acting Whangarei controller Inspector Murray Hodson said the teenager made a statement to police and was released into the care of his parents.
Mr Hodson said the police Youth Aid section would decide whether further action would be taken in the Youth Court.
The attack has led to Hammer Hardware reviewing items displayed outside.
Brenda Mundy, who was the supervising manager when the garden pruners were taken, said they had been on display outside the front door for three months.
"We didn't expect anything like this to happen but we certainly won't be putting them out there again."
Staff at the shop helped the teacher by using ice packs where he was hit.