By ALISON HORWOOD
The paedophile at the centre of a civil-rights debate is fleeing Napier for a secret location after death threats and a vigilante-type attack.
"I fear for my life. I thought Hawkes Bay would always be home, but for my own safety I am getting out of town," the man told the Herald.
Constable Dean Young of Napier said that on Sunday afternoon three men kicked in the door of the man's flat and attacked him with a piece of driftwood.
He required hospital treatment for abrasions to his head.
The man told the Herald his attackers told him to get out of town within 24 hours or they would return and shoot him.
Constable Young agreed that the attack could have been a case of community justice.
The attackers could have been anyone, but it was possible they were parents of some of the teenagers, or residents intent on running him out of town.
The man said that before the attack he had received death threats, a brick and a malicious message had been thrown through his window, and "Kiddie Care Centre" had been spray-painted outside his house.
Sandy Penberthy, the mother of a 14-year-old boy who used to visit the man, said "Good job" when the Herald told her of the attack.
"I don't know who attacked him and I don't care," said Sandy Penberthy.
"We are glad to see the back of him."
The description the man gave the police of his attackers was vague but he told the Herald they could be old enough to have teenage sons.
The 47-year-old, twice-divorced father was convicted in 1996 of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
He hit the headlines last month when Napier police threatened to use section 48 of the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989 to detain youths short-term if they were found on his property.
The move angered civil libertarians, who said the man had not broken the law and the teenagers could associate with whomever they wanted.
But police said the man, who delivers junk mail for a job, had set up his flat like a Club Med for boys and provided them with beer, cigarettes and pornography.
If he did not keep away from the youths, they would use their power to keep them away from him.
The man sought legal advice and claimed police were harassing him when he had not broken the law.
Bashed paedophile fleeing
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