Pink fairy hero 'shocked' at praise

A humble Hawke's Bay hero who caught an alleged offender in the act while wearing a pink fairy costume has been "shocked" at the attention his actions have received.

There has been an outpouring of praise for the actions of Liam Fontaine, a 23-year-old landscaper, who caught an alleged robber after completing Sunday's Breast Cancer fun walk with his sister and her two daughters.

His mum died several years ago from the cancer, and the Napier resident said the family wanted to raise awareness.

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At about 2pm on Sunday Mr Fontaine's family headed to Arkwrights dairy in Napier, to get icecream for his niece's.

They were leaving the dairy when a "suspicious looking" man wearing a balaclava walked in.

"I had put my pie and my drink into the car when the store owner chased this man out of the shop," he said.

Fountain took off after the alleged robber, along with another customer, a 14-year-old male.

"We both got him on to the ground and pinned him there while my sister was in the dairy helping out and calling the police."

The man put up a bit of a fight, he said, but he and his friend put him in his place.

"We just told him 'look, don't make more trouble for yourself. The more you fight the worse it's going to be'."

He said police took over when he and his helper happened to flag down an off-duty officer.

The 42-year old man arrested in relation to the incident entered no plea when he appeared in Hastings District Court yesterday charged with aggravated robbery.

He was granted interim name suppression and was remanded in custody until his next appearance in November.

On Sunday, Senior Sergeant Kevin Stewart wanted to thank the "fairy hero" for saving the day.

"We want to give our pink fairy hero and his acquaintance a big pat on the back for preventing this offender from getting away," Stewart said.

Yesterday Mr Fountain said he had not expected his actions to receive so much attention - his story has spread across social media, and he had "lost track" of how many interviews he had done.

"It's been pretty full on, I was quite shocked about how much it went viral."

"I didn't think about it until people starting commenting on Facebook. My friends think it's pretty crack up".

He said he hoped some of the attention would go to the teenager who helped catch the robber, "because he deserves it."

The Napier resident would be donning his "uniform" again for the Mitre 10 Mega Walk this weekend.

Dairy owner John Zhao could not be reached for comment.