12-Year-Old Robs Students' Home
Flatmates Jack, Luis and Louie are out of pocket to the tune of $5,000, after a 12-year-old local robbed their home. The 19-year-old friends all hail from Havelock North in the Hawkes Bay and moved to the city to study engineering.
“We knew each other in high school and we kind-a decided to flat together,” says Jack.
The Robbery
“We knew we had been robbed,” Jack added. He was “pretty shocked I guess...I was kind-a pissed off...kind-a sad...”
Jack says “these guys had been there for a month…and I'd moved in literally the day before the robbery.”
They went to the gym at or about 6:30.
“We were gone for roughly an hour and then we came back. Luis went to one of our mate’s places around the corner.”
“I went to put a show on my laptop and it was like I can't find my laptop. ...we rummaged around for a bit...Louis looks for his laptop. His had been taken out of his case. Both of them had been taken out of their cases.
“I called Luis to come back,” says Louie.
“We knew we had been robbed,” Jack added. He was “pretty shocked I guess...I was kind-a pissed off...kind-a sad...”
Local Youths
“Police have identified a group of young people aged 10-13 responsible, and they have been referred to youth services.”
“We had a pretty strong suspicion from the get-go that it was [redacted]. We kind-a knew there was some pretty dodgy kids in the neighbourhood. We knew it was opportunistic, considering we were gone for such a short time, they must have seen the window open and gone for it.”
“They kind of walk around like a group,” says Luis, “all about the same age about 14 and they wear blue balaclavas, always wear hoodies...imagine themselves to be a gang which we thought to be the [redacted].
“They also wrote ‘[redacted]’ on our mailbox.”
After signing the lease last year, vandals had smashed 39 windows and daubed graffiti on the outside walls in their absence. “A group had already vandalised our house and they were confirmed to be of the same age.”
“They were roughly twelve to 14.”
Luis told The Wigram they were confident it was the same group. The landlord has since installed an alarm system.
Police had previously said they are “aware of reported damage to buildings in the Riccarton area, mainly around [redacted], which has occurred over the past few months. Police have also located mail stolen from a number of these addresses. Police have identified a group of young people aged 10-13 responsible, and they have been referred to youth services.”
Finding the Burglars
They “found some pretty comprehensive stuff on the windowsill. But generally the way she was talking and the tone, nothing's going to happen.”
“We called the non-emergency number, says Luis, “and they put me on hold.” He called 111 and they “transferred me over to the non-urgent line.
It was about then they realised they had lost more than their laptops. The burglar had taken wallet, bank card, driver licence, $100 of vouchers, 2 watches, a silver chain, a pair of Addidas shoes, a second pair of shoes worth around $300, a loudspeaker, and 3 laptops.
They’d taken “probably over $5000 of stuff.” The trio did not have insurance.
On the following morning, Police Forensics dusted for fingerprints. They “found some pretty comprehensive stuff on the windowsill. But generally the way she was talking and the tone, nothing's going to happen.” “...Don't even hold out hope…that you're going to get anything back, I don't know.”
Emerging Leads
“Two days later we see...maybe one of his friends with...(Luis’s) speaker...and the car drove away.”
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