Oranga Tamariki staff who accompanied a serious young offender from the Government’s military-style academy pilot to a tangi were not watching him when he was inside a home during proceedings and didn’t notice he had fled.
An internal review by Oranga Tamariki found it wasn’t reasonable to expect their staff to keep the youth in their line of sight at all times.
New information about the escape has been released by Oranga Tamariki following a complaint by 1News to the Ombudsman.
There were originally 10 teenagers in the military-style academy pilot programme, but in December 2024 a tangi was held at the family home of one participant who died in a car accident.
A judge granted another bootcamp participant bail so he could attend the tangi and Oranga Tamariki staff accompanied him.
Around 150 people attended the tangi, including the Minister for Children Karen Chhour.
During the tangi, the family invited the young people present to move into their home to pay their respects but the Oranga Tamariki staff “chose not to enter while the tangi formalities were underway,” the summary released to 1News reads.
“As staff did not enter the home, the line of sight of the young person was lost.”
It was only once the tangi had concluded that Oranga Tamariki realised the serious young offender was no longer there.
“When it was made clear the young person was not in the house, at the end of the tangi Oranga Tamariki staff members made enquiries with whānau members to ascertain the young person’s whereabouts, and alerted the police when the young person could not be located.”
The youth offender was eventually caught around a week later by police in Hamilton after going on the run with a third bootcamp offender who absconded separately and engaged in a crime spree that allegedly involved stolen vehicles, weapons, police chases and an attempted carjacking of a motorist.
An internal review into whether the Oranga Tamariki staff should have been constantly watching the offender found “in practice this was not reasonable to expect, nor was it a condition of the young person’s bail”.
The summary said there were high emotions at the tangi and other complicating factors “including the attendance of various groups and individuals of the community”.
“If staff had attempted to maintain physical proximity after whānau had invited the rangatahi into the house, this may not have been welcomed and could have created a set of different risks from others in attendance,” the summary read.
Labour’s spokesperson for children Willow-Jean Prime said she’s concerned the Government’s pushing ahead with its military-style academies and wants greater transparency.
“When major incidences like these happen, there are reassurances that the Government must provide, such as how much wraparound support and interventions were these youth receiving – and for how long? And, what was going on in the boot camps that may have triggered this escape.”
In late June, Oranga Tamariki announced one of the remaining nine participants was withdrawn from the pilot after being placed in Corrections’ custody following a court appearance.
The Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has said military-style academies will reduce youth offending and turn help serious young offenders turn their lives around.
Oranga Tamariki has refused to say exactly how many of the participants in the pilot have reoffended.
