Import charge upgraded

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a Brazilian man who fled New Zealand at the weekend while awaiting sentence on a charge of unlawfully importing a small stun gun.

Oscar Carvallo, 25, admitted the charge in the Napier District Court in July.

He was to have appeared for sentence before Judge Bridget Mackintosh yesterday.

Phillip Ross, a Napier lawyer who was to have appeared for Carvallo, told the judge he had been told the man had "left the country for Brazil" last Saturday.

The judge was about to file the charge when police prosecutor Sergeant John Ashfield said a warrant should be issued for Carvallo to face if he re-entered New Zealand.

A summary said Carvallo ordered the small Taser-like weapon from overseas.

It was intercepted at New Zealand Post's International Mail centre in Auckland on May 23, in a package marked as a remote control. Carvallo at first said he wanted the weapon for self-defence, but later said he just wanted one.