KEY POINTS:
Police are investigating a "vicious" booby trap that has left a Canterbury teenager with a slashed throat.
Constable Nick Jack said David Watson, 14, and two friends were biking down a dirt track in Diamond Harbour, near Lyttelton, about 12.45pm yesterday when he was thrown off his bike after riding into the trap set up in the trees.
Strong gardening string had been pulled tightly and zigzagged three times across the track and tied to trees.
"The top string was neck height and the track is quite steep so the boys were going reasonably fast, tearing through the track and one of those (strings) has collected him around the neck," Mr Jack told The Press newspaper.
"We think it's a prank gone wrong set up by kids, but we can't rule out someone older has done it, but given the location (a popular short-cut with kids) it's doubtful."
Mr Jack said David could have been decapitated and police were treating it "very seriously".
David's mother Michelle Watson said she was angry at the "viciousness" of the prank.
"I think about what could have happened it could have been a lot worse".
- NZPA