‘Bandanna burglar’ returned to scene

Nicholas Kerr was told by a judge he would be imprisoned again if he continued to target student flats. Photo: staff photographer

A Dunedin man known as "the bandanna burglar", after a series of student-flat break-ins, has returned to the scene of the crime, a court has heard.

Nicholas Scott Kerr, 36, was jailed for three years two months in 2021 after being convicted of burgling 14 flats, stealing more than $20,000 of items including underwear, and cutting holes in the curtains of seven women’s houses.

Kerr would wear dark clothing and a bandanna covering his face, hence the moniker, and it was two years before he was finally caught and brought to justice.

This week, the defendant came before the Dunedin District Court again — this time on the relatively low-level charge of unlawfully being in an enclosed yard.

While the charge carried a maximum penalty of three months’ imprisonment, Judge David Robinson — who locked Kerr up in 2021 — voiced his worry.

The crime happened in Queen St, just a couple of houses down from other homes the defendant had previously targeted.

"While on its face you walked through a property, when I look at your history this is a returning to the scene of the crime," the judge said.

"I have real concerns this was a return to form."

According to court documents, one of three female residents was in her lounge about midnight on August 22 last year.

Kerr had walked down the unlit driveway and activated a motion-triggered light.

The victim saw the man run down the side of the property towards a rear deck, then "hunkered down in fear and called the police", a police summary said.

A dog unit picked up Kerr’s scent at the scene and tracked him to Knox Church.

Counsel Sarah Cochrane argued a deferred sentence was appropriate, but Judge Robinson disagreed.

"Your history of propensity to target flats occupied by young women ... warrants something more punitive," he said.

Police released this identikit photo several years ago as they tracked a man responsible for a series of break-ins. Image: NZ Police

Kerr was sentenced to 50 hours’ community work but it came with "a very clear warning".

"You need to understand, if there’s a repeat of this, the sentence simply goes up and I’d have no hesitation in jailing you," the judge said.

Kerr’s earlier burglary spree began in 2018 when he entered a student flat in Queen St occupied by 10 females and cut a hole in two of their bedroom curtains.

He went on to repeat the acts and would often steal items which were later sold using a fictitious Facebook profile.

Kerr, who had previous convictions for violence, blackmail and dishonesty, admitted to the Parole Board in July 2023 his crimes had a sexual motive.

He was released from the Otago Corrections Facility after the board heard he would receive specialist sex-offender treatment quicker in the community.

But at a monitoring hearing five months later, it was revealed Kerr was yet to start any therapy and had changed his story about what drove the break-ins, claiming it was his need for drug money that fuelled him.