Escaper seen in Huntly

Press, 20 January 1979, Page 6

Escaper seen in Huntly

PA Hamilton' i The Huntly police yester-I i day joined the search'for an 1 escaped prisoner who alleg-i edL held a girl aged four, J and her father against their 1 wishes for six hours on' 1 Thursday night in a Mount Eden Bat. The police allege that the father and child were threatened with a knife and the'' father beaten by the prisoners, Joseph Cowan and an associate, who wanted information about another

Cowan escaped from Mount Eden Prison on December 10 while serving a 51-year sentence for a drug offence.

The police consider Cowan on the pretext of taking the is dangerous and say he girl to a baby-sitter, and should not be approached by dropping the man off at his [the public. work. The escaped man was seen Instead the. father and at 6.25 p.m. on Thursday in child were threatened with a Huntly, said Sergeant J. knife and taken from outside [Claridge yesterday. their Edenvale Road address Cowan was alone and onto a flat in Sherbourne foot when seen by a police- Road, the police said. man, Sergeant Claridge said. I They were held for six However, after being hours before the man got spotted Cowan disappeared. |away\ leaving his daughter In the earlier Auckland In- With ’them. As a se'arcn for cident. Cowan and his asso- the girl was .getting under ciate picked up the man and waiy she was left at her his daughter in a rental car I home.