Assault arrests made in Kapiti

Kapiti Police investigating the death of 17-year-old Izak Millanta have made a number of unrelated arrests in connection to other alleged assaults which occurred on the same night.

Izak Millanta was found by Police in an unconscious state at the back of KFC in the Coastlands carpark around 3am on Saturday 11 August. He died in Wellington Hospital the following day.

Officer in charge of the investigation Detective Inspector Mike Johnson says as a result of enquiries into Izak's death, Police became aware of other alleged assaults and fights that took place in the carpark area of the Kapiti Lights complex and surrounding area on Friday night and into Saturday morning.

"Four males aged between 19 and 26 years have been arrested and dealt with on charges of assault, fighting in a public place and injuring with intent to injure. One of these is to appear in the Porirua District Court next Tuesday and the remaining three were dealt with by pre charge warning.

Mr Johnson says the investigation into Izak Millanta's death is ongoing and a large team is continuing to make enquiries.

Senior Sergeant Alasdair Macmillan, officer in charge of Kapiti police, says it appears some people have chosen not to alert police about these other incidents despite having knowledge of them or being a witness.

Mr Macmillan says any offending in the Kapiti community is unacceptable and will only be curbed through a joint approach by everyone:

" Our focus is on prevention and I urge anyone to report incidents or potential incidents to Police and we will deal with them on a case by case basis." says Mr Macmillan.