Teenager brandishes machete in West Auckland school brawl

Teenager brandishes machete in West Auckland school brawl
Photo credit: JkavaXsaiketauilo / Facebook

An Auckland brawl in which a teenage boy held a machete to another's throat resulted in the arrests of four people. 

Multiple videos of the fight, which took place next to a train station on Stevies Lane in Henderson, were uploaded to Facebook on Wednesday evening.

The caption on one of the videos suggested the scrap involved students from Kelston Boys High School and Liston College, two single sex schools in the neighbouring Auckland suburbs of Kelston and Henderson respectively.

Both schools have been approached for comment.

Videos show two young men engaged in an altercation in the middle of the road, one wearing a white T-shirt and the other not wearing a shirt but holding a machete-style knife. Multiple other people, including young women in school uniform, can be seen watching and filming with their phones.

Neither boy involved in the fight seems to be wearing a uniform, although they are both wearing long white uniform-style socks.

The shirtless boy can be seen walking up to the other, who touches his hand to his own throat as though inviting him to attack. The machete-wielder holds the knife up to the other's throat, who flicks it away.

The shirtless boy then punches him in the face before turning and walking away. The young man in the T-shirt briefly follows him, again touching his own throat.

An extended video, taken as part of a Facebook story, shows what happened just moments later.

A third boy, wearing a black T-shirt, runs up behind the boy in the white shirt and hits him in the head, knocking him to the ground. He punches and kicks him a few times before running away.

Commenters called the move a "cheap shot", citing past incidents in which people have died after being struck from behind.

Police say they were alerted to the fight at 3:40pm on Wednesday. Ambulance staff also attended the scene.

Two people were arrested for disorder at the scene, and were referred to Youth Aid.

Officers also recovered two weapons at the scene but have not specified if that included a machete.

On Thursday two 17-year-old boys were arrested on a number of assault-related charges. They will both appear in the Waitākere District Court at a later date.

Inspector Stefan Sagar says police are "alarmed" at the violent behaviour seen in the video, and the actions of those involved will not be tolerated.

"Disorder incidents such as this have no place in our community and we will not hesitate to deal with anyone involved," he told Newshub.

"There will also be an increased Police presence in the Henderson area in the coming days to prevent any further disorder incidents taking place.

"I want to reassure the community that Police will continue to investigate this incident and we will be talking with our partners, including local schools."

Anyone who witnessed the fight is urged to call Henderson Police on 09 839 0600 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

While some commenters seemed amused by the fight video, others said it wasn't funny and reflected a serious violence problem among New Zealand youth.

Many were astonished to see a teenager brandishing the large knife, which commenters called a "sapelu".

Newshub.