A Dunedin resident said the offenders, a group of youths all under the age of 16, were receiving ‘‘absolutely zero punishment’’ due to their age.
‘‘They smash a window, rip out the ignition, hot-wire it, take it for a joyride while finding anything to steal inside it, and once it’s pretty much wrecked or low on gas they find another of a similar make.’’
‘‘Police can’t seem to do anything even if they are caught because of the law surrounding youth — someone needs to be accountable.’’
The man shared a TikTok page which showed a Dunedin youth stealing multiple cars, showing off ripped-out ignitions, doing burnouts around the city, showing watchers a trunk and back seat filled to the absolute brim with boxes of alcohol, and a vehicle speeding down the motorway in excess of 200kmh.
Police said they caught five youths after receiving more than a dozen reports of vehicle thefts and attempted thefts over the long weekend.
The ODT spoke to four people whose cars were either successfully stolen, or allegedly damaged by the young offenders.
East Taieri resident Michele Gow’s Toyota Mark X was stolen sometime on Monday night.
It was found yesterday at 2.15pm crashed into a power pole in Ravenswood Rd, St Clair.
‘‘They drove it all night, all day, and then wrote it off,’’ she said.
‘‘I was getting phone calls from people around Dunedin all day spotting it ... there were lots of good people out there letting me know that it was around and still being driven.’’
Another victim who lives in St Kilda said he had disabled his Subaru so it could not be started if someone tried to steal it.
He was very happy he did, because come Monday morning, someone had tried to take his car.
‘‘The ignition and surround was ripped off, they smashed a window and damaged the body work in the process,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s just another number to police, you know. What are you going to do? I’m presuming they’re underage and they can’t do much,’’ he said.
Also, a South Dunedin resident said a group of youths tried to steal his Ford Falcon on Sunday night, but failed when he caught them in the act.
He chased them down, and in response two teenage girls began kicking him.
‘‘It seems like they just get a slap on the wrist, sent away and they just do it again,’’ he said.
A St Clair resident said he was woken at 1am on Monday to banging on his window.
It was police, who had come to tell him his Volkswagen was smashed up on the street outside.
‘‘Police didn’t seem very surprised, of course, by the whole thing.’’
Dunedin Coastal Area prevention manager Sam Ramsay said on Monday at 10.30pm, a vehicle was stolen from Balaclava allegedly by a group of five youths.
Police attended, road spikes were successfully deployed and the youths in the allegedly stolen vehicle came to a controlled stop on Three Mile Hill Rd.
‘‘All five youths were quickly located with assistance from a police dog team and taken into custody.’’
Two had minor injuries and were transported to Dunedin Hospital as a precaution.
Three of the youths would be appearing in the Dunedin Youth Court, and the other two were returned to their families and referred to Youth Aid.
‘‘Police are actively working alongside partner agencies to respond to and prevent youth involvement in vehicle crime, including addressing the behaviour of those causing harm in our community,’’ Insp Ramsay said.
The incident in Balaclava was one in a string of similar offending, he acknowledged.
‘‘Police will continue to deploy a range of resources to respond to this offending and hold offenders to account, while also focusing on prevention and early intervention.’’
