The youths made headlines last week after subjecting the city to a campaign of chaos, which included allegedly smashing a grandmother’s windscreen, brandishing a knife at a stranger and stealing an estimated six cars.
The pair were also chased out of a Night ’n Day by a man in a moon boot after trying to shoplift from the store.
They were caught and arrested on Monday last week at 6.10pm in Calton Hill.
However, it now appears the pair have been up to their old tricks.
Kaikorai Valley resident Michael Gooch said those same youths first attempted to take his Mazda MX5 from outside his home some time last week.
They cut a hole in the car’s soft-top roof, used ‘‘something’’ to jemmy the lock, but ultimately gave up without getting the car to start.
Mr Gooch said the pair returned on Sunday night.
‘‘They came back to finish the job that they had started last week,’’ he said.
At 12.45am, his sister-in-law woke up and noticed shadowy figures around the back of the house.
He and his flatmate got up and scared them away.
He believed if the pair had another 30 seconds they would have been able to drive off with his car.
About three hours later, they returned to have a third try.
‘‘It almost looked like they were trying to scope out the house to see if we were asleep.
‘‘We went out the front of the house and that car just sped off straight away — they didn’t muck around to come back and try to steal it again.’’
His insurance company was now trying to slap him with two excesses, Mr Gooch said.
When he spoke to police, he basically got told: ‘‘Well, they’re youths’’.
‘‘And that’s pretty much it ... Who does that help? Nothing’s happening, and everyone has to fork out for it, which is bloody terrible.
‘‘Especially because last week it was pretty well established that they were just causing a muck for hours on end, then obviously, got a slap on the hand and been let back out to do it again.
‘‘It just repeats and repeats.’’
Mr Gooch said he was no ‘‘law expert’’, but it seemed preventing known youth offenders from reoffending was completely out of police’s hands.
‘‘My mind’s really stumped about the whole situation.’’
The pair had previously been involved in another incident where they had been spotted in a stranger’s driveway.
On Friday about 10.30pm, police went to a property in Maryhill after the resident noticed the two youths in their driveway, Acting Senior Sergeant Iain Notman, of Dunedin, said.
When they realised they had been spotted, the pair fled to a parked vehicle before driving off.
Police units, including the dog unit, searched, but initially failed to locate the youths.
A short time later they were found at a nearby address, arrested and taken into custody.
They were shortly after placed into Oranga Tamariki’s care.
