Kidnap-case father may face 10 years

An American father accused of kidnapping his infant daughter three years ago faces up to 10 years in a New Zealand jail on passport and immigration charges if convicted, he was told by a judge yesterday.

Arlen Hill, 33, has been an international fugitive for three years since he allegedly kidnapped his then 17-month-old daughter, Taylor Hill, in Missouri and fled to several countries.

Last week he was arrested in Takapuna and yesterday pleaded not guilty to eight passport and two immigration charges. He has already been indicted by a grand jury in Missouri on a charge of parental kidnapping.

His daughter, Taylor, was returned to her mother, Julie Coleman, this week and may already have gone back to America.

Yesterday in the North Shore District Court Hill failed to convince Judge Mark Perkins he was not a flight risk and that he should be released on bail until the New Zealand charges could be heard.

Hill's lawyer, Geoffrey Anderson, said Hill had no intention of going on the run and wanted to return to America to face the charges there.

"The flight risk you pose in these matters is extremely high indeed," the judge said. "It is the clearest case I could conceive of a strong flight risk."

Prosecutor Sergeant Mike Hayden said Hill told a police officer when he was arrested that if he knew the police were coming he would have run.

"The man is a flight risk. He will continue to flee," Mr Hayden said.

Judge Perkins told Hill he faced up to seven years in jail on each of the passport charges and up to 10 years on the immigration counts, which showed how seriously the charges were viewed in New Zealand.

He said what Hill faced in the US was irrelevant to the charges he faced in this country.

Hill is understood to have renamed his daughter Lena. She apparently never knew her real name, but Julie Coleman told American media she hoped Taylor would remember two stuffed bunnies which comforted her before the abduction.

Hill also apparently told his daughter her mother was dead.

American authorities believe Hill spent time in Mexico, Spain, Australia and the Philippines before arriving in Auckland.

In Auckland he worked under the name Paul Reynolds for a company called Recreational Services. Company director Paul Broom was reported to be stunned at the news that his worker was a wanted American fugitive.

Hill joined the company in November last year and was a manager in the golf course construction division.

Mr Anderson said in court that he persuaded Hill to plead not guilty, but at the status hearing he wanted an indication of the sentence Hill would face if he was convicted.

It has been reported in America that New Zealand authorities had agreed to extradite Hill, but it was not known if he would serve a sentence in New Zealand first.

- NZPA