Police hunt released rapist

Police are seeking convicted rapist Maka Renata for breaching his prison release conditions.

Police say they are unsure what part of New Zealand they might find a convicted rapist wanted for breaching his prison release conditions.

A warrant was issued in Christchurch District Court on December 23 for the arrest of Maka Renata, police said.

Renata was known to have been in Manukau on December 24 and an associate was arrested in Picton six days later.

Renata has links to the Wellington region but his whereabouts are unknown, Detective Inspector Mike Arnerich said.

"Renata is certainly a person the public should actively watch out for and the sooner he is captured the safer the public would be. The potential for him offending again is extremely high."

Renata is a Maori, 24 years old, 166cm tall and of medium build.

He was jailed for seven and half years after being convicted of rape committed in June 1999 when he was 14.

He and his foster father Dean Hiroki dragged a 26-year-old Wellington woman into an alley where they held a knife to her throat and took turns raping her.

He was sentenced to an extra three years in jail after sodomising his 15-year-old cellmate about 16 months later.

Renata was due to be freed more than two years ago but the Department of Corrections applied for a special Parole Act order to keep him in jail until his final release date of December last year, when he was released.

A spokesman for Corrections Minister Judith Collins last year told the New Zealand Herald that Renata would have six-month release conditions upon his leaving prison which were designed to protect the public.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call police.

- NZPA