A man shot in the thigh in a mysterious incident in Christchurch last week has now had an arrest warrant signalled after he failed to turn up at court on his own firearm charges.
The arrest warrant will not be issued until midday on Wednesday for Dean Walter Louis, to give him a chance to get to the Christchurch District Court.
The 30-year-old has denied two charges of unlawfully possessing firearms and obstructing a constable, arising from a police search of his Yaldhurst Road address on April 6.
Police allege they found two rifles at the property, and an 8-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier was “shot and destroyed” on the property when it attacked officers and a police dog.
Louis was meant to appear before Judge Tom Gilbert in court on Tuesday afternoon for a case review hearing on those three charges.
However, defence counsel Anselm Williams told the court he had not been able to contact Louis.
He explained to the judge that Louis had been shot early last week and had ended up in hospital. He had not been able to find out whether Louis was still in hospital.
He had not been able to find him since the shooting but would continue to try ahead of the warrant coming into force on Wednesday. Judge Gilbert issued the warrant, but ordered that it should “lie in court” till then.
Louis was shot at the same Yaldhurst property involved in the police search, and was apparently dropped off at Christchurch Hospital by a friend about 9.30pm on July 14.
Police said at the time that the circumstances around the shooting were unclear, and it is believed no-one has yet been arrested.
Mr Williams said in court that the shooting was “unrelated” to the charges Louis was facing.
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