Teenager, 16, being 'illegally detained' at youth justice facility, lawyer alleges

The teenager has spent the past 51 days at Te Puna Wai youth justice facility outside of Christchurch. Photo / File

A 16-year-old is being illegally detained at a youth justice residence because there are no other beds for him, a lawyer argued today.

The teenager has spent the past 51 days at Te Puna Wai youth justice facility outside of Christchurch despite having been granted bail by a Youth Court.

Oranga Tamariki, formerly the Ministry for Vulnerable Children, says it can place him at a local care residence within a fortnight but no beds are yet available.

Lawyer Grant Tyrrell lodged a writ of habeas corpus at the High Court in Christchurch, alleging illegal detainment.

At a hearing today, Tyrrell claimed it was "unlawful and fundamentally wrong" to hold the teen at the secure, fenced compound normally reserved for youngsters remanded or sentenced by the Youth Court. It houses some "very serious offenders", the court heard.

"In a functioning democracy we don't detain people just because it's easier," the lawyer told the court.

"There are very specific statutory requirements before a young person can be put in secure care."

He added: "The right to liberty is about as big as it gets."

Oranga Tamariki lawyer Chris Lange said it was a "complex case".

Courts always tread carefully where child custody issues arise, he said, and all other accommodation options, including a motel, were not deemed suitable. No other care and protection facilities had available beds, Lange said.

Oranga Tamariki did not believe the youth was being held in secure care, as he enjoyed "much more flexibility" than those remanded there.

"The fact there are restrictions does not make it an unlawful detention," Lange said.

Lange believed that the Family Court was a more appropriate forum to deal with the case.

Justice Rachel Dunningham reserved her decision but realised it required some urgency and hoped to release it by the weekend.

It comes after a 14-year-old boy arrested in Christchurch for a petrol station hold-up was detained in a "barren and desolate" police cell for five days in a case that dismayed Youth Court Judge Jane McMeeken.

And in March, another Christchurch Youth Court judge ordered the immediate release of an 18-year-old held in solitary detention at Christchurch Police Station cells for seven days, claiming it breached the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.