Schoolboy victim in knifepoint robbery

A knife was held to a 12-year-old boy’s throat as he was robbed on his way home from a Masterton school.

The Masterton Intermediate School pupil’s bike was stolen in the incident on Tuesday afternoon.

Principal Russell Thompson said the boy was confronted by a group of about six or seven boys on High St, near the school.

‘‘They gathered around him, and one 11-year-old took a knife, held it to his throat and asked him to hand his bike over,’’ Thompson said. ‘‘He rang 111 and handled the situation very well.’’

Thompson said the group of boys had turned up to the school on bikes about 2.40pm.

They were asked to leave and then intimidated several motorists by circling their cars on Intermediate St, before one went on to commit the robbery.

A family member later took the boy who pulled the knife to police. He has been referred to Youth Aid.

Thompson said staff had been shaken, and he wanted to see action taken.

‘‘There are 50 to 60 bikes at school on an average day, and I want to know that these kids are safe biking to school,’’ he said.

‘‘I’m angry that someone’s done this to one of our kids ... I just want to know that something’s going to be done.’’

Senior Sergeant Mike Sutton, of Masterton, said the police were treating it as ‘‘a serious incident’’.

It’s not the first time youths have caused problems in the area. In December, groups of kids as young as 8 were thought to be behind a wave of vandalism that cost various Masterton schools thousands of dollars to fix.