Daily US Times: A man who had been on the run in rural New Zealand chartered a helicopter to fly to a police station to surrender.
James Bryant faces assault charges and spent five weeks apparently hiding in a small town in North Otago.
Mr Bryant told local media his time there had been “great”, but he was ready to leave “the middle of nowhere”.
Prisoners’ advocate Arthur Taylor, who brokered the peaceful arrest, said he had taken Mr Bryant for oysters and champagne on their way to the station.
Taylor, a high-profile former inmate who is currently on parole, told journalists outside Dunedin Central Police Station: “It was his first decent meal in weeks.”
The charges Mr Bryant is facing include three counts of posting harmful digital communications, assault with a weapon, wounding with intent to injure and
Police had warned that he was considered dangerous and should not be approached.
Mr Bryant told the Otago Daily Times – which headlined its story Flight To Justice – that during his time in Waianakarua he had done “a lot of yoga”, but he eventually decided to surrender himself in because he was worried about being labelled a danger to the public.
Bryant contacted Taylor to ask him to arrange a peaceful arrest. The two knew each other already, because Bryant had previously helped design Taylor’s website.
Taylor told Stuff.nz that Mr Bryant paid for the chartered helicopter himself, because “he wanted to come out in style”.
Local media report that he was arrested quietly and without incident at 16:00 local time on Thursday.
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