A convicted rapist and abductor who was on the run from Christchurch has been located and arrested in Nelson and is now in custody.
Nigel Robert Gately, 48, described as a "high-risk offender", disappeared from a property in the Christchurch suburb of St Albans on Tuesday.
He was released from prison on parole in May last year after being sentenced to preventive detention on rape and abduction charges.
Parole conditions mean he is not permitted to leave the Christchurch area.
Police have thanked the public for their help in locating him. They say they are unable to comment further as the matter is now before the courts.
Gately was first jailed in 1994 for the rape of a Christchurch prostitute and got back into trouble just three months after his release on parole in 2000. He was later convicted for an attack on a young Dunedin woman, and the abduction of a female hitchhiker, for which he was sentenced to preventive detention.
Parole Board documents from the time of his release note he had completed an Adult Sex Offender Treatment Programme but still carried a high risk of sexual reoffending. The document claims he had learned from the programme and "endeavoured to put into practice the lessons taught in it".
A more recent Parole Board document, from April 16, 2016, stated there was no increase in risk and commended Gately for doing "very well" and holding down a job.
His parole conditions were extremely strict, stating that he must live at an undisclosed address, be electronically monitored, could not consume alcohol and must tell a probation officer if he formed an intimate relationship.
Newshub.
