Kurariki failed by Govt departments

The report into the offenders convicted of killing Michael Choy shows that several Government departments fell down in the monitoring of Bailey Kurariki, says National Social Services Spokesperson Katherine Rich.

"Bailey Kurariki was a high risk offender capable of violent offending who should have been under CYFS care. CYFS was ineffective in working with this boy and clearly wasn't monitoring him when this occurred.

"While today's report finds that it was the right decision to leave Kurariki at home, CYFS failed to support that decision with follow up.

"It is also concerning that front line police had a lack of awareness about the provisions of the CYPF Act.

"The Government is today promising that measures are in place to deal with youth offenders in future, but we know that CYFS and Police are under-resourced.

"There have been concerns expressed at a Ministerial Taskforce group meeting over effects of policing staffing levels on the new police youth offending teams. These documents have been withheld from National by the Ministry of Justice. "What the public wants is action to prevent youths like Bailey Kurariki falling into this type of trap.

"The Government is proposing many committees and taskforces, but when will it resource its Government departments so that they can respond to errant youths like this?" Katherine Rich said.

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