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A High Court jury has found a prisoner guilty of being party to an ambush of guards escorting him in central Wellington.
Arthur William Taylor, 51, who represented himself, was found guilty yesterday of escaping, and helping gunman Manu Royal kidnap the prison officers.
He was found not guilty of being party to Royal having an air pistol with intent to help Taylor escape.
The Crown said Taylor escaped from a prison van while being escorted to a family group conference at Child Youth and Family (CYF) offices in Wellington city on March 22, 2005.
It said he handcuffed two prison guards together and fled.
He climbed through a roof space in a building in a nearby street but fell through the ceiling, landing in a woman's toilet.
He was arrested in a car park more than an hour later.
Royal, and Taylor's wife Carolyn, had already pleaded guilty to charges relating to the escape, and been sentenced to jail.
Taylor said he was not part of any plan and he feared for his life when Royal appeared with a gun.
He only went with Royal while he worked out what to do.
Taylor, who has several convictions for escaping, is one of only a handful of prisoners to escape from Auckland Prison at Paremoremo.
He is to be sentenced on October 12.
- NZPA
