Hendrix Hauwai Described As Victim Of The System

Hendrix Hauwai is being held up as another case of the system not picking up flags that there are young people needing help.

The 17-year-old will spend almost five years in jail for assaulting Auckland mother Lucy Knight, who sustained serious head injuries while trying to prevent Hauwai from stealing another woman's bag.

Judge Philippa Sinclair said Hauwai's life had been one of considerable parental neglect and abandonment.

His primary motive for the robbery was to obtain money to buy food for him and his starving younger sister.

Social worker Reverend Mua Strickson-Pua says the siblings have fallen through the cracks of a system that's out of touch.

"A system that isn't doing it's job to discover what's going on with the individual."

Reverend Mua Strickson-Pua says that's a growing problem.

"Unfortunately it seems to be on the rise, it's becoming more and more the norm. It's a reflection of the child poverty issues that are out there."

Reverend Mua Strickson-Pua says there were flags not picked up by the system.

"More and more we're beginning to see those young people that are in the cracks who are lost, and then turning up at critical times making very serious mistakes. That in turn is not a good indictment on society."

Newstalk ZB