Skylight fall victim's friends looked 'distraught as hell'

  • 20/12/2015
Skylight fall victim's friends looked 'distraught as hell'

The friends and family of a 12-year-old boy who fell through a skylight on a roof at a Palmerston North school have been described as looking "distraught as hell" when emergency services arrived.

Winston Paniora-Tuimana, is now in a serious but stable condition at Palmerston North Hospital after the Friday night incident where he fell seven metres onto a concrete floor at Central Normal School.

Detective Sergeant Grayson Joines told the Herald on Sunday Winston was sitting on the skylight when he fell through it.

Immediately after the incident his friends who watched the incident unfold broke into the locked classroom he had fallen into to be by his side, and it was only minutes after that police arrived at the scene.

When the police arrived, Sgt Joines told the Herald on Sunday they saw the broken door and the unconscious boy being dragged by his friends out into the open who were "distraught as hell".

Police believe the kids were not up to anything malicious at the time of the incident, and they were just playing around before things turned sour.

"Kids are kids, kids try things, kids have fun and kids explore. Sometimes it's safe and sometimes it's not," Sgt Jones told the Herald on Sunday.

Winston and his friends don’t go to the school where the incident occurred, and the principal of Central Normal School, Shona Oliver said she didn’t want to comment on the incident while police were investigating.

3 News