'Living hell' for runaway daughter's mother

The two weeks her teenage daughter was on the run with a former gang member were "living hell", Rosina Davis says.

Craig Howard, a former Mongrel Mob member and father of seven, disappeared with Julie Davis from Mt Maunganui on July 4 last year.

The pair were found 12 days later, naked in a Rotorua hotpool.

After previously pleading not guilty to a charge of abducting a young person under 16, Howard admitted the charge in October and was sentenced in Tauranga District Court yesterday to two years and three months' jail.

Speaking outside the court after yesterday's sentencing, Julie's mother said the situation had been "every parent's worst nightmare", and that she had feared her daughter would be sexually assaulted, the Waikato Times reported.

"It was a living hell, it was a nightmare. I can't believe anyone with a child could have done that," Ms Davis said.

She said she was relieved and happy with Howard's sentence, but that the incident had ongoing consequences.

"We have a good relationship but in a way we feel like we've lost her.

"It's completely ruined a lot of potential that she had," Ms Davis said.

Her daughter, a former Mt Maunganui College student, had not returned to school and no longer lived with her.

- NZPA