{"id":434722,"date":"2026-05-19T08:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/434722\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T08:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T08:37:11","slug":"dating-app-attacks-four-teens-arrested-in-invercargill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/434722\/","title":{"rendered":"Dating app attacks: Four teens arrested in Invercargill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Queens<\/p>\n

\nQueens Park in Invercargill was the scene of at least one attack.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Tess Brunton\n<\/p>\n

Four teenagers have been arrested after several Invercargill people were attacked in violent and unprovoked assaults<\/a> by people they met on dating apps.<\/p>\n

Police said there were four separate incidents where dating apps were deliberately used to lure victims to various locations in the city, where they were violently assaulted.<\/p>\n

Police confirmed today that two 15-year-old males and two 16-year-old males have each been charged with aggravated burglary.<\/p>\n

Further arrests and charges are expected. The four teenagers will appear in the Invercargill Youth Court.<\/p>\n

One person needed critical care after being attacked on 8 May, while another suffered serious injuries in an attack in the Queen’s Park area on 10 May.<\/p>\n

Southland area prevention manager acting Inspector Mel Robertson said the attacks were “deliberate, co-ordinated and extremely dangerous”.<\/p>\n

“The level of violence inflicted is deeply concerning, and it is nothing short of luck that the victims were not more seriously injured.<\/p>\n

“The reality is stark – one more strike, one more kick, and the outcome could have been fatal.”<\/p>\n

Robertson said there was increasing concern about the influence of online and social media trends that encouraged and glorified this type of behaviour.<\/p>\n

Southland Police have already urged people not to share violent videos of assaults circulating online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Let us be clear – this behaviour is completely unacceptable,” said Robertson.<\/p>\n

“These youths are old enough to understand exactly what they are doing, and choosing to engage in harmful, trend-driven behaviour that endangers others will not be excused, and it will carry serious consequences.<\/p>\n

“If you think this behaviour is a game or a trend, you are wrong. The consequences are real, and police will hold you to account.”<\/p>\n

Mayor Tom Campbell said earlier this week<\/a> that the city was in shock over the attacks<\/p>\n

“We’re not a community that’s used to that kind of thuggery. We’ve got a relatively low crime rate compared to the rest of New Zealand. We’re always considered one of the safest places in New Zealand.”<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queens Park in Invercargill was the scene of at least one attack. Photo: RNZ \/ Tess Brunton Four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-434722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}