Boy, 12, suffers serious injuries in school skylight fall

Detective Sergeant Grayson Joines said the 12-year-old was sitting on the skylight when he fell through it. Photo / File Photo

The friends of a 12-year-old boy almost killed when he fell through a skylight on a Palmerston North school roof were "distraught as hell" when police arrived.

The boy - Winston Paniora-Tuimana - suffered critical head and internal injuries when he fell about 7m on to a concrete floor at Central Normal School at about 8.20pm on Friday.

He was taken to Palmerston North Hospital but flown to Starship Children's Hospital at 5am yesterday. His condition is now serious but stable.

His mother, Makere Paniora, last night confirmed the boy was her son. She did not want to comment, but described her son as a "typical boy".

It is not Winston's first brush with danger. A cousin of Makere Paniora confirmed he was one of the children in a Botanical Rd house in 2006 when there was a drive-by shooting.

Detective Sergeant Grayson Joines told the Herald on Sunday the 12-year-old was sitting on the skylight when he fell through it.

"The poor little fellow has gone feet up in the air and fallen about 25 feet. He landed on a pretty hard concrete floor with carpet on it."

His mates rushed to him, smashing a locked classroom door. Police arrived seconds later.

"When the police got there they saw the broken door and the two other boys dragging their mate, who was near unconscious, out of the building. They were distraught as hell, they were pretty close friends. They are concerned about their little mate, who's not in a very good way," Joines said.

Makere travelled with him and has been at his bedside. "[His] mum's standing up pretty well."

Police believe the boys had not been up to anything malicious or criminal at the school.

"Kids are kids, kids try things, kids have fun and kids explore. Sometimes it's safe and sometimes it's not," Joines said. "They'd probably done it heaps before but this time it went terribly wrong. They were just mucking around, as boys do."

Joines said the boy and his friends were not pupils of the school.

Principal Shona Oliver said she could not comment on the incident as police were investigating.

"For us, it's just very sad for a family at this time of year," she said.

Last month, Timaru teenager Jordan McKeown died after he fell through a skylight at a local arcade.