Dozens hunted over sex crimes

The <i>Herald</i> can reveal that as of November 17, at least 74 people were wanted for alleged sexual offending. Photo / File

Offences include aggravated assault and child abuse.

More than 70 people are wanted on arrest warrants for alleged sex crimes and evading police.

The Herald can reveal that as of November 17, at least 74 people were wanted for alleged sexual offending.

Figures released by the Ministry of Justice under the Official Information Act show that 23 of the outstanding warrants were for people believed to be in Auckland.

The other 13 regions had fewer than 10 alleged sex offenders wanted on warrants.

The number of people wanted by police with active arrest warrants was 6910, so the alleged sex offenders made up just 1.1 per cent.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the alleged offenders are facing a range of charges including aggravated sexual assault, non-aggravated sexual assault, non-assaultive sexual offences against a child, child pornography offences, sexual servitude offences and non-assaultive sexual offences.

District Courts general manager Tony Fisher said the figures showed the number of people wanted on warrants for alleged sex offending based on their oldest outstanding warrant and the most serious offence.

There might be more people wanted for sex offending, however. If that offence was not their most serious or the first they had a warrant issued for, they would not show in the data.

"However, we expect the number of people not captured to be small," Mr Fisher said.

"A warrant to arrest is an authority by the court which allows the police to arrest a person. Once a warrant has been issued, it is then the responsibility of the police to apprehend the person on the warrant."

Police said officers worked hard to ensure that outstanding warrants were cleared.

"And in an ideal world the number of outstanding warrants would be zero," a police national headquarters spokesman said.

"While we work hard alongside other agencies to clear an outstanding warrant, there can be a number of reasons why a warrant may remain outstanding - not least of which is the lengths that some offenders will go to in order to evade police."

He said any person wanted on a warrant for a serious offence was a concern to police.

They vowed to continue to "invest significant time and resources" into locating wanted people and putting them before the courts.

One alleged sex offender who had been avoiding police since September was arrested in the South Island on December 9. Officers on the West Coast had been hunting Shane Dibben, aged 24, who was wanted on multiple warrants for six charges of unlawful sexual connection and several serious violence charges.

Anyone with information about wanted people should contact their local police station or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111.

Serious charges

Of the 6910 people wanted on arrest warrants, at least 74 are sought for sex offending, including:

• Aggravated sexual assault; non-aggravated sexual assault.

• Non-assaultive sexual offences against a child.

• Child pornography offences.

• Sexual servitude offences.

• Non-assaultive sexual offences.