A prisoner who made a dramatic escape from corrections custody at Waikato Hospital last week has been arrested after nine days on the run.
The 48-year-old remand prisoner had “absconded from Corrections staff” while on a hospital visit at around 1.30pm on December 23.
Footage emerged on December 24 showing how the man pulled off the escape by clambering down a large pipe on the side of a hospital building. Once near the ground, he jumped to safety and jogged around a corner onto a footpath wearing only a pair of shorts.
Today, police said he was found early this morning at an address in Ōpārau, near Kawhia, and was taken into custody “without incident”.
He was due to appear in the Hamilton District Court tomorrow, charged with escaping custody.
