KEY POINTS:
A baby was rescued by police from a Dunedin home bringing to a peaceful end a tense standoff during the weekend.
Detective Constable Rebecca Hill, of Dunedin CIB, walked from the house, carrying the child and escorted by a member of the armed offenders squad.
The Otago Daily Times reported a waiting St John Ambulance crew found the three-month-old boy to be in perfect health.
Senior Sergeant Steve Aitken said the peaceful conclusion to the standoff came after a team of police negotiators entered a house in Liberton to talk to a young father refusing to give up his baby.
The 24-year-old man had allegedly been involved in a violent domestic dispute with his partner on Friday night before he fled the scene with his child and vanished for the night.
The father and baby were eventually found in the basement of another on Saturday afternoon.
The home and surrounding streets were cordoned off and a three-hour standoff ensued as a team of at least three police negotiators attempted to persuade the man to surrender.
The police negotiators eventually entered the basement to talk to the man, who was not armed but would not release his baby, and talked him into giving himself and the baby up, Mr Aitken told the newspaper.
The man was arrested on "several" outstanding warrants and was appear in Dunedin District Court today.
- NZPA
