Three young gang members have been banned from Waikato Hospital for "appalling" behaviour while visiting a friend shot in the head last week.
The boys, aged between 12 and 14 years-old, were roaming the hospital intimidating and threatening staff and patients last Thursday, hospital spokeswoman Mary Anne Gill
told NZPA.
"They were found in an area of the hospital where they had no right to be - it was so far removed from the person they were visiting - in an area that was closed."
With police help, the hospital issued trespass notices against the boys.
Waikato District Health Board chief operating officer Jan Adams said the boys' actions were "disrespectful".
"We're here to provide services to the public and their relatives and we put up with this? We want to provide a quiet and secure environment so people can rest and recover. It's just appalling behaviour," she told the Waikato Times.
Should the need arise, the hospital wouldn't hesitate to issue trespass notices again, she said.
Ms Gill labelled the actions of the boys unpleasant and upsetting.
"They are not allowed back in the hospital. If they come back they will be arrested."
It was not clear which gang the boys belonged to, but was either the Bloods or the Crips.
The 16-year-old patient the boys were visiting was in the hospital's high dependency unit in a serious but stable condition.
He suffered eye and mouth injuries after he was shot in the face in the Hamilton suburb of Chartwell last Tuesday.
Police later arrested an 18-year-old on a charge of possessing a firearm in relation to the shooting.
He appeared in Hamilton District Court yesterday and was remanded on bail until March 9.
- NZPA
