Youths remanded over Boxing Day tourist attack

Five youths charged over a 2am Boxing Day attack on two German tourists who had pitched their tent near the Whakatane skatepark appeared in the Whakatane Youth Court on Tuesday.

All five, four from Opotiki and one from Whakatane - a girl aged 15 and boys aged 14, 15, 17 and 18 - face a joint charge of aggravated robbery. The girl is also charged with unlawfully taking a motor vehicle while the boys have been charged with unlawfully getting into a vehicle. Police opposed bail for all five.

The five appeared separately before Judge Alayne Wills. Each of their families was brought into the courtroom just for the appearance of their family member and then asked to leave. The exception was the 18-year-old who had no family supporting him.

First to appear was the girl. A bail application was made by the girl's youth advocate but Judge Wills declined the application and remanded her in Child, Youth and Family residential care.

Bail applications were also heard for the 14-year-old boy and the 17-year-old boy. The 14-year-old boy was also remanded in residential care while the older boy was bailed to an Eastern Bay address under strict conditions.

Bail was not sought by the 15-year-old who was remanded in residential care while the 18-year-old was remanded in custody by consent. All five accused will reappear in the Whakatane Youth Court on January 17.

Judge Wills granted the 17- and 18-year-olds interim name suppression on the grounds of identification while the three younger accused cannot be named for legal reasons.

During the lengthy appearances, Judge Wills described the injuries received by the German pair. The woman was left with a fractured eye socket, a broken nose, a gash to the forehead, a fractured arm and bruises and scrapes while the man lost some teeth.

Meanwhile, the tourists are spending time in the Bay of Plenty with friends. Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Standen said young couple had shown tremendous fortitude to bounce back from the incident.

"When we spoke to them today they said they were happy that the whole of New Zealand had given them so much support including letters after this incident and this was very helpful to them to receive this amount of support."

Police are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.