Charges after paint pellets pepper alley
A PORIRUA man faces a charge of recklessly discharging a paintball gun after an alleged alleyway attack on a group of children.
The man will appear in Porirua District Court on Tuesday after the incident, in which a group of eight children were allegedly peppered with shots in an alleyway leading to Beauzami Cres, Porirua, about 4.30pm on Wednesday.
One of the children, Wheronui Willoughby, 6, was shot in the face at close range after it was claimed the children threw lemons on to the neighbouring property.
Joanne Bennett, grandmother of three of the children who were said to have been shot, said she found out about the incident when Wheronui was carried into the house with a bloody face by his older brother.
He had a bruised and swollen upper she said.
She claimed more than 40 shots were fired, and that paint from the pellets was left spattered on walls about 100 metres away from the man’s fence.
Bennett said her family had connections to the Mongrel Mob, and the accused man had since fled the neighbourhood. Only his parents remained there.
Police confirmed that after, ‘‘a number of
lip, conversations with the parties involved’’, the man had been charged.
The paintball gun had would be destroyed.
been
seized and