Eastern Bay of Plenty police have today arrested and charged the fifth person in connection with the aggravated robbery of the German tourists in Whakatane on Boxing Day.
The 15-year-old youth will appear, along with the other four charged, in the Whakatane District Court tomorrow facing joint charges of aggravated robbery. Police at this stage will be continuing to opposing Bail for all five charged.
Meanwhile, the two German tourists are spending time in the Bay of Plenty with friends. Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Standen says, "This young couple have showed tremendous fortitude to bounce back from this terrible incident and when we spoke to them today they said they were happy that the whole of New Zealand had given them so much support including letters after this incident and this was very helpful to them to receive this amount of support. They were overwhelmed by the generosity shown by New Zealanders".
Police through the Victim Support network have dealt with over 200 emails of support and kind wishes from each end of the country for the tourists and experienced a huge amount of generosity by individuals and businesses offering all types of gifts, travel, accommodation etc.
The investigation team is not looking for anyone else in connection with this inquiry and would like to thank all the members of public who came forward with information over the past few days.
END
Issued by: Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Standen, Investigations Manager, EBOP.
As this matter is before the court Mr Standen is unable to be interviewed about today's arrest.
At this time the victims still do not wish to speak to media. We will let you know if this situation changes.
Media pager: 026 101 082