Kidnap sparks 13-hour chase

By NAOMI LARKIN, SCOTT MacLEOD and BRIDGET CARTER

A manhunt which started near Tauranga at dawn when a woman was kidnapped at gunpoint ended with an arrest on the North Shore last night.

Armed offenders squad members, backed by three detectives who had driven from Tauranga, arrested the man in Bayview about 6.45 pm after a hunt that lasted nearly 13 hours.

They were assisted by the police helicopter Eagle and officers from Takapuna.

The drama began at 5 am when a 34-year-old woman was abducted at gunpoint by the man outside his Tauriko home, 10km southwest of Tauranga.

The woman had been visiting her abductor.

He forced her to drive her car to Katikati, 35km northwest of Tauranga.

Caltex Katikati owner Lester Gray said the car pulled into the service station forecourt and the distressed woman grabbed her chance and jumped out.

She was hysterical and began screaming about a gun.

The man leaped out and chased her around the forecourt, brandishing a shotgun.

A customer drove into the station and Mr Gray said the woman scrambled into his van.

The kidnapper pointed his firearm at the driver as he sped off.

Mr Gray had no idea who the woman's saviour was.

She was said to be shaken but unhurt.

Meanwhile, the sole attendant at the station had locked the doors, ducked down to a safe place, hit the security panic button and alerted the police.

The attendant, named Angela, had been working at the station for only five weeks but did everything she had been trained to do, Mr Gray said.

"She was very shaken up, but the way she reacted was absolutely awesome. She kept her head 100 per cent, which shows all her training worked.

"She's working again tonight."

The car was later found abandoned in a reserve at Waihi Beach. The man was spotted hitchhiking north at 7.15 am.

Detective Senior Sergeant Karl Wright-St Clair headed the hunt, driving with two other detectives from Tauranga.

He said that about 2.30 pm the armed offenders squad surrounded a house in Leith Way, Rothesay Bay, where members of the man's family lived.

Police blocked streets, including Knights Rd and Beach Rd, bringing traffic in the area to a virtualstandstill for about two hours.

Leith Way resident Ian Sandiford said he watched as up to eight armed police surrounded a house directly across the road for about two hours. The officers remained silent and hidden throughout.

A neighbour, who was unwilling to be named, said she heard police calling on a loudhailer: "The house is surrounded. Please go to the ranchslider and give yourselves up."

However, Detective Senior Sergeant Wright-St Clair said the quarry had "given them the slip"moments before the police cordon was set up.

A shotgun was found in the house, but it was not clear last night if anyone in the dwelling would face charges.

The roadblocks were lifted about 4.30 pm, as police rushed to Bayview, where they believed the man was holed up in a house in Bayview Rd.

An attendant at a petrol station in Glenfield said he saw seven police vans near James St, where police had set up their headquarters in the Glenfield Baptist Church. Customers said armed police also stood watch in Sunset Rd.

Armed offenders squad members arrested the man in a car being driven by a friend outside the Bayview Rd house.

Police refused to say if there was a struggle, but said the man was not armed.

* A 30-year-old man from Tauriko is due to appear in the North Shore District Court today charged with kidnapping and aggravated robbery.