Lewis five days in Buller Gorge

Press, 15 May 1987, Page 2

Lewis five days in Buller Gorge

Christopher John Lewis, aged 22, on remand from Auckland on four bank robbery charges, flew into Christchurch yesterday afternoon on an Air New Zealand flight. Handcuffed to a detective; he was taken to the Christchurch Central Police Station where he was to spend last night in the cells. Lewis, aged 22, will appear in the District Court this morning. The police questioned Lewis on Wednesday evening after he was arrested at an Auckland car sides yard. Lewis told the police he spent five days in the Buller Gorge and often saw the searching police.

He claimed that he hit his head when he crashed

the car he was driving in the gorge and said he could remember little after the crash. Lewis said he spent two days in a scout hut and hid behind trees to watch as two policemen checked it He went into Westport again and walked along the railway line up the Buller River for 20 hours before hitch-hiking to Blenheim. He stayed two nights at a Blenheim motel before flying to Wellington, where he spent the next night. The next day he flew to Auckland and rented a flat in Epsom last Monday.

PA Auckland Christopher James Lewis, aged 22, has been remanded in custody to appear in the District Court in Christchurch today. Lewis, unemployed, was charged yesterday with four Christchurch bank robberies when he appeared briefly before Judge Browne in the Dis-

trict Court at Auckland. Lewis, handcuffed to a detective, entered no plea to the charges. Four charges of aggravated robbery allege that Lewis was armed with a replica pistol when he robbed banks last November 27, and on January 8, February 10 and April 2 this year. The police allege a total of $44,812 was stolen.