Man jailed for kidnapping estate agent

A man who kidnapped and assaulted a female real estate agent while posing as a potential buyer has been sentenced to preventive detention.

Nigel Craig Whakarau, 39, was ordered by Justice Forrest Miller in the High Court at Wellington today to serve a five-year minimum term.

Whakarau kidnapped and tied up the real estate agent during a private viewing of a Carterton house in August last year.

He then tried to bundle the 41-year-old woman into the boot of his car but she grabbed a screwdriver and stabbed him in the head.

He pleaded guilty in April to kidnapping the woman, assaulting her while having a knife, and robbing her while possessing an offensive instrument - masking tape.

The attack followed a similar one in 1996, when Whakarau was jailed for kidnapping Taranaki businessman Roy King and subjecting him to a terrifying 12-hour ride locked in the boot of his car.

- NZPA