Arrest of a child — rape — unlawful sexual connection — lawfulness of arrest — intention to charge — Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, ss 4, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18, 70, 72, 83, 84, 91, 92, 96, 178, 197, 198, 208, 214, 245, 247, 258, 261, 272, 280A, 282, 333 & 336 — Criminal Procedure Act 2011, s 147 — UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ("the CRC"), arts 19 & 40 — Police v Z K W-W [2013] NZYC 580 — YP v Youth Court at Upper Hutt HC Wellington CIV-2006-485-1905 — R v H [2017] NZHC 3223 — New Zealand Police v HH [2021] NZYC 583 — New Zealand Police v FG [2020] NZYC 328 — R v C-W [2007] NZCA 216 — Pomare v Police HC Whangarei AP 8/02, 12 March 2002 — Police v LM YC Wellington CRI-2009-285-23, 21 April 2009 — Police v DK YC Auckland CRI-2009-004-161, 10 August 2009 — Police v SM [2015] NZYC 666 — H v Police (1999) 18 FRNZ 593 (HC) — Police v V [2006] NZFLR 1057 (HC) — Police v JH [2020] NZYC 396 — Police v DS [2016] NZYC 444 — Police v DS [2016] NZYC 665 — Police v IB [2017] NZYC 48 — Committee on the Rights of the Child General comment No. 24 (2019) — Committee on the Rights of the Child General comment No. 13 (2011) — Simon France (ed) Adams on Criminal Law: Criminal Procedure. The child faced one charge of rape and one of unlawful sexual connection. The alleged offending occurred as the child was walking home from school, after which point the victim went and told her parents and gave a statement to police on the same day. At issue was whether the arrest of the child in relation to the alleged offending had been lawful. As he was 13 years old at the time of the alleged offending, the child was considered a "child" for the purposes of the Oranga Tamariki Act ("the Act"). Section 214 of the Act outlines the process by which a child may be arrested without warrant, which include ensuring their attendance at a court appearance, prevention of further commission of offences and preventing loss or destruction of evidence. This section must be read in the broader context of the Act, especially the changes which came into effect on 1 July 2019, as well as other important documents such as the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child. The Judge determined that the arresting constable had not given appropriate weight to the considerations under the Act and that he did not have reasonable grounds upon which to exercise his power to arrest the child under s 214 of the Act. The Judge followed High Court authority to decide that the unlawful arrest of the child would invalidate the charging document. As the s 245 process is one of the primary ways to ensure that criminal proceedings are not instituted against a child if there are alternative means of dealing with the matter, it would subvert that principle if the Police could rely on unlawful arrests to bring children to Court. The Judge gave options for how the matter could proceed and reserved his decision until a later hearing. Judgment date: 25 February 2022. * * * Note: names have been changed to comply with legal requirements. * **