A Hamilton man who fled the country using a false passport while awaiting sentencing on sex charges has been sent to jail for just over seven years.
Christopher Crause, 48, appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Wednesday afternoon on 13 charges.
Eight were related to sex with a minor and two to supplying cannabis to a person under 18.
Other charges were brought under the Passport Act and for conspiring to defeat the course of justice.
Crause was granted bail after being found guilty at a trial early last year but went to Australia using a false passport, before using his own passport to go go to South Africa, where he was born.
He was eventually picked up by police in Botswana and returned to New Zealand in August.
Judge David Ruth sentenced him to four years on the sex charges and three-years four months on the Passport charges to be served cumulatively.
