Police dispatched in Taupo after fatality in Christchurch

A police call-centre worker has been disciplined for sending officers to an address in Taupo after an emergency call about a man dying after an attack in Christchurch.

It is the latest 111 botch-up to surface since last weekend, when a call-taker at the police northern communications centre failed to dispatch officers to a fight before a young man was almost beaten to death.

In the Christchurch case, Fred Rapana, 46, died after a dispute at a boarding house in the suburb of Richmond in March last year. St John Ambulance officers were unable to resuscitate him.

Keremihana George, 50, is charged with the murder and assault of Mr Rapana. A hearing on the case will be held this week, and a High Court trial is set to start next month.

It is understood that on the night police were called, officers were sent to an address in Taupo, rather than Christchurch.

How this affected the ambulance response to Mr Rapana was unclear yesterday.

A police national headquarters spokesman confirmed that an internal investigation had been held and disciplinary action taken.

Meanwhile, police said the Auckland woman who failed to pass on a 111 call about a fight, 90 minutes before a young man was beaten almost to death, is unlikely to be heavily disciplined.

Superintendent John Lyall, national manager of police communications, said the civilian worker was a reliable staff-member. She had handled the call properly but failed to pass it on to a dispatcher.

As a result, police did not arrive at the fight in a Mt Roskill park. An hour and a half later, a second fight broke out and a 23-year-old man and his brother were beaten by up to 15 young people with bats, plastic pipes and bits of wood.

The 23-year-old suffered serious head injuries, including multiple fractures to the skull and brain contusions, and a brain injury.

He remained in a critical condition in Auckland Hospital last night. It is not known if he will survive.

His brother was also badly injured.

Mr Lyall said an investigation had begun into why a local resident's call about the first fight was never acted on but it appeared to be a case of human error rather than a technical problem. He said the matter would also be referred to the Police Complaints Authority.

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson said police tried their "very best" to prevent mistakes from happening but he could not guarantee they would not occur.

Detective Senior Sergeant Gerry Whitley, who leads the investigation into Saturday night's beating, said he believed the lack of police response to the first 111 call had no bearing on what happened later.

* New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has raised concerns about the police response time to an aggravated robbery at the Lone Star Cafe in Auckland.

A spokesman for the cafe said there were no problems with police getting there or the handling of the robbery.