A young man has been charged with assault after a citizen's arrest in Hamilton allegedly went too far.
Hamilton City Area Commander inspector Scott Miller told RNZ a 19-year-old was before the courts after incident involving a citizen's arrest in Hamilton last week.
He said officers were called to a commercial premises on Victoria St around 5.15pm on Saturday, following a report of shoplifting.
Miller said when police got to the scene, they found one person suspected of being involved in the shoplifting had been detained.
It was alleged the person who detained the suspected shoplifter assaulted them during the incident.
A man had been charged with common assault and was next due to appear in the Hamilton District Court on Friday.
The suspected shoplifter would also go through a youth justice process.
Justice Minister: 'They can hang on to somebody and call police'
A new bill introduced to Parliament this month is looking to give the public greater powers to make a citizen's arrest. (Source: 1News)
Minister of Justice Paul Goldsmith said he didn't know the particulars of the case but that they passed a law and expected people to follow it.
"The clear directions in that is if the situation is appropriate, people can hang on to somebody and then call the police and follow the instructions of the police.
"We've got clear legislation in place and we expect people to follow it."
He said he stood by the policy, which was an extension of the existing citizen's arrest powers.
"Look, there'll be a period of working our way through how that works in practice, but I'm not going to comment obviously on the individual case."
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