Teen killer not first to escape via window
A teenage killer is the second person to remove a window and escape from a south Auckland youth justice facility.
Oranga Tamariki thought it had fixed the problem after the first incident at Korowai Manaaki, some time in the past three years. However, on Saturday night, Haami Hanara, 16, and Sean Ratu, 17, removed a reinforced window at the facility, clambered across a roof and then fled through a car park.
‘‘I am very concerned they were able to escape,’’ Allan Boreham, Oranga Tamariki’s deputy chief executive youth justice services, told Stuff yesterday afternoon. It is the third breakout from Korowai Manaaki in the past three years. Boreham said a previous escape from the facility involved the removal of a window. ‘‘Significant work’’ had been done to reinforce windows after that incident. ‘‘That is why we have to have a very good look at what has occurred here.’’
A major manhunt is under way to locate Hanara and Ratu. Police have warned anyone who helps them evade capture could face criminal charges.
Hanara was 14 when he killed Kelly Donner, 40, in Flaxmere in
Hastings in March 2018.
In February last year he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
Yesterday, a Hastings-based member of Hanara’s family, who did not want to be named, appealed for Hanara to ‘‘hand yourself in’’. They feared he would be killed in a shootout with police. The family member said Hanara had a tough upbringing –
his father is a gang member and his mother is dead – and they felt sad at how his life had panned out. They believed the teen was not a risk to the public ‘‘but I could be wrong’’.
‘‘Maybe if he is threatened.’’ Korowai Manaaki staff became aware of the escape, some of which was captured by security cameras, about 9.30pm on Saturday, but it was 40 minutes, after a perimeter search, before police were called.
Boreham said he wanted to know why that call was not made immediately. The escape was publicised for the first time, after Donner’s family were notified, nearly 24 hours later, after inquiries from Stuff. ‘‘All decisions on public safety alerts are made by the police,’’ Boreham said.
Neither of the teens had absconded from a youth justice residence previously but Ratu had fled from a community-based placement. Boreham said he was concerned about the escapes from Korowai Manaaki in the past three years. There had been two similar incidents at the country’s three other youth justice facilities during that time, Boreham said.
‘‘I have to understand why this residence has had a number of escapes and that hasn’t been the case at [the] other residences.’’
Children’s Minister Tracey Martin said she was ‘‘concerned and disappointed’’ about the escape. ‘‘At the moment my key concern is public safety and that these two are both returned to a secure facility.’’
‘‘I have to understand why this residence has had a number of escapes and that hasn’t been the case at [the] other residences.’’
Allan Boreham
Oranga Tamariki