Dunedin bus center stabbing: High school fights becoming longer, more aggressive, principal says

High schools are seeing students struggle with a form of violence that lasts longer and is more aggressive, said the head of a group representing principals.

The comments come after 16-year-old Dunedin student Enere McLaren-Taana was killed after an attack at the city's bus center on Thursday afternoon.

A 13-year-old boy accused of her murder appeared in juvenile court Friday.

Police found a knife at the scene and were investigating the circumstances leading to the attack.

In Auckland there have been a series of incidents involving knives, and there was a student fight where a machete was used.

Secondary Principals Association president Vaughan Couillault said violence between students was becoming more acute, leading to serious injuries and worse.

The fights often took place between groups and “did not stop when the person fell,” he said.

Anecdotally, those who engaged in combat were “harder to bring off the edge – it’s harder to defuse.”

Couillault said there was also an “increasing likelihood that some sort of weaponry was involved.”

Family members and friends of the students were also involved in fights. In the machete incident, the weapon was wielded by a community member and not a student, he said.

“What we are seeing is the willingness of people who are not students at school to get involved in what were, 30 years ago, schoolyard conflicts that were resolved relatively quickly and easily. [They are] becomes much more complicated due to the involvement of the wider community.

Umbrella Wellbeing chief executive Dougal Sutherland said the apparent involvement of a weapon was shocking and concerning.

Historically, teenagers fought with fists and while that shouldn't be tolerated, the use of a weapon was “really, really disturbing,” he said.

Violent incidents at bus and train stations involving young people do indeed appear to be increasing, he said, but there is no obvious reason for the trend.

However, these types of incidents rarely occur in isolation, he said.

“There are many contextual implications that need to be considered, as well as the level of development of a [young person].

“Many factors will have combined to produce this truly terrible and tragic outcome.”

Overall, teen delinquency has declined over the past decade, but a certain group of teens was committing more, Dr. Sutherland said.

“For a specific subset of adolescents – those with more prevalent antisocial behavior since childhood – rates increased as they engaged in more delinquent behaviors.

“This is probably the group that appears in peaks of delinquency [such as] ram raids, violent behavior at bus stops, etc.

Meanwhile, McLaren-Taana's teammates canceled a rugby match this week out of respect for his family.

In a Facebook post, Otago Community Rugby manager Warren Kearney said Saturday's match between the Sassenachs – Otago's mixed schools team – and Dunstan High School had been canceled as a mark of respect to the family of the Trinity Catholic College student.

“Otago Rugby’s thoughts and prayers are with Enere Taana-McLaren’s family, friends and teammates.

“As for Trinity Catholic College, intermediate team Otago Combined Sassenachs will not play tomorrow’s match against Dunstan High School.

“In times like these, we need to stay united and support each other. Kia kaha.”