A "scared" Invercargill tattooist has fled overseas with his family and left behind a half a dozen clients with half-finished tattoos.
Buzzworks Tattooing owner Clayton Malone told the Southland Times he had no option but to leave the city because he feared for his family's safety.
Speaking fromAustralia, Mr Malone said his family had been threatened by certain people because he refused to do things they wanted. He wouldn't give details but said drugs and gangs were not involved.
He had left behind "six or seven" clients with unfinished tattoos and had walked out on his shop's Spey Street lease agreement several months before it ran out.
One Invercargill man said Mr Malone had been tattooing him and three mates and still owed them about $1000 of work.
They were "pissed off" he had left town and three of them now had to pay someone else to finish the tattoos, he said.
Senior Sergeant Richard McPhail, of Invercargill, said police were unaware of Mr Malone's situation but would investigate if he lodged a complaint.
