Two teenagers have been arrested after a school staff worker was allegedly robbed on her way to work in Whangārei.
Police said a laptop the believed had been stolen, which contained irreplaceable study material had also been recovered.
It’s understood the Mandarin language assistant was threatened with a knife while walking through an alleyway near Onerahi School about 3pm on Friday.
At the time, police said the offenders, who were clad all in black, made off with a bag containing the woman’s laptop, wallet and other items.
The woman was not physically harmed but the daylight incident rattled the harbourside suburb of Onerahi.
In a social media post, the school said it was “shocked and saddened” and implored local residents to keep an eye out for the woman’s possessions, as well as passing on any information to police.
Detective Senior Sergeant Shane Pilmer, of the Northland CIB, said two teenagers had since been arrested, with the younger of the pair, aged 14, charged with aggravated robbery and breaching bail.
He appeared in the Whangārei Youth Court on Thursday morning.
Another teenager, aged 16, had been referred to Youth Aid.
Pilmer said an Onerahi address was searched as part of the investigation.
“Crucially, we have located a laptop that was in the woman’s bag at the time… This is a great result in both holding these two males to account, and recovering the laptop as I know it contained irreplaceable university material.”
Pilmer said the Northland community would not tolerate violence or other intimidation.
rnz.co.nz
