Police hunting a convicted rapist are urging him to hand himself in and complete his parole conditions.
A warrant for the arrest of Maka Renata was issued in Christchurch on December 23. His last known whereabouts were in Manukau, south Auckland, the following day.
Police had "grave concerns about him and the risk he may pose in the future", said Detective Senior Sergeant Virginia le Bas of Christchurch police.
"There's certainly some risk, and that's a concern," she told Radio New Zealand.
Police were unsure of his exact whereabouts, although he has links to the Wellington region, and an associate was arrested in Picton in Marlborough last month.
"At the moment it's very difficult to determine where to place police to look for him."
Family and friends were likely to know of his whereabouts and an exact address or general area would help police, she said.
"It's in everyone's interest that we locate them and he completes his parole conditions," she said.
"He needs to come forward and come back to where he needs to be."
Renata is 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.
Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call police.
