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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse in NZ |
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Rotorua police have yet
to find three youths responsible for a savage attack on a schoolgirl in a
Western Heights reserve last week. They believe the
culprits may be bragging to their mates and want to hear from anyone who
knows who they are. The trio chased the
14-year-old girl after she walked past them on a footpath and refused a
request for a kiss. They dragged her about
30m into a children's playground, slashed off her long socks and parts of her
skirt and used them to bind, gag and blindfold her. The youths, thought to
be aged 15 to 17, also cut off clumps of the girl's hair and tied her arms to
the side railing of a swing. They ran off when they heard a man whistling his
dog. The girl managed to
free herself. Detective Lehi Hohaia
has appealed for the dog-owner to contact police in the hope he may have seen
or heard something. The attack happened
about 5.30pm last Wednesday in the reserve alongside Western Heights
Kindergarten. Too scared to seek help
and embarrassed to be seen with her skirt cut off, the girl ran to Fairview
Rd and on to nearby Kaitao Intermediate School where she hid, frozen, behind
a concrete wall for more than an hour. A woman leaving a
meeting at the school saw the distraught teenager curled up in the fetal
position on the ground about 7pm and called the police. Officers have described
the attack as "very alarming" and sinister, with the potential to
have been a vicious sexual assault or a homicide if the three youths had not
been interrupted. Mr Hohaia said
yesterday that several people in the neighbourhood had reported sightings of
the offenders and police were following up that information. It is thought
the three attackers may live in the area. The girl said one was
wearing cargo pants and a black hoodie. * People with information
can contact Detective Lehi Hohaia on (07) 349-9423 or confidentially on 0800
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