Arrest without warrant — injuring with intent to injure — school brawl — Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, ss 214 & 245. The young person faced a charge of injuring with intent to injure. There had been a school brawl incident in which a school pupil had been seriously injured. The young person had not been directly involved in the brawl, but had attacked one of the complainants nearby by kicking him in the head and body, causing the complainant to lose consciousness. The incident had been captured on video. A week after the incident, the young person was spoken to by police and readily admitted his involvement in the incident. He was arrested without a warrant. Section 214 of the Oranga Tamariki Act ("the Act") outlines the process by which a young person may be arrested without warrant, which include ensuring a young person's attendance at a court appearance; prevention of further commission of offences; and preventing loss or destruction of evidence, or interference with a witness. The issues for determination were whether the arresting officer was satisfied on reasonable grounds that the arrest of the young person was necessary to ensure any of the criteria in s 214(1)(a); and that proceeding by way of summons under s 214(1)(b) would not have achieved the purpose. Pursuant to s 214(3) a police officer was required to furnish a report to the Commissioner of Police within three days of the arrest, stating reasons why the young person had been arrested. However failure to do so was not fatal. The Judge considered the evidence of the police officers and the young person, as well as the video footage of the incident, and determined that the arrest was necessary to prevent further offending given the serious nature of the alleged offending. The Judge was satisfied that the reasons for the report being furnished within four days and not the three-day period required by the legislation were valid and did not undermine the decision-making in relation to the arrest. The Judge considered based on the circumstances of the case and all of the information available to the police officer at the time, the arrest was necessary to achieve the purpose of preventing the young person from becoming involved in further offending. The unwarranted arrest was therefore deemed lawful. Judgment Date: 5 February 2021. * * * Note: names have been changed to comply with legal requirements. * * *