This is the moment a CCTV camera captured a brazen intruder entering a Canterbury home while the householder watched TV just metres away - completely unaware of what was happening.
Not only did the intruder enter the Prebbleton house once, he returned 10 minutes later to steal more items.
The incident happened just after 10pm last Wednesday when the offender slipped in through an unlocked ranchslider at the back of the house. A neighbour’s security camera recorded the break-in.
A 42-year-old has since been arrested and will appear in court on October 24 facing four charges of burglary and two of receiving property. The burglaries include two commercial premises in Rangiora.
The intruder took a bag containing a wallet and keys, and the keys to a work ute, from a table – about three metres from where the householder was watching TV. A wall separates the part of the room where the table was from the lounge.
Ten minutes later, the offender returned, this time taking a backpack near the same spot. Again, the householder was unaware of what was happening.
The householder’s stepdaughter, Renae McEntee, who was in her room at the time, said the incident had shaken her.
“I did not sleep the whole night after it happened, and I’m still a bit on edge now.”
McEntee heard her stepfather’s ute start up, but thought nothing of it.
The burglary was only discovered when McEntee’s mother returned home from visiting a family member at Christchurch Hospital.
“She came home and said, ‘Where’s the ute?’ and that’s when we knew it had been stolen,” McEntee said.
Another neighbour’s home security camera picked up a blue car coming and going in the street for about an hour. McEntee believes it was casing the area.
“You could see it driving around the street very slowly,” she said.
McEntee said police told her the arrested man was found with the number plates and keys from the ute, which has not been found.
She said since the burglary, the family has installed security cameras and are now more vigilant about locking doors.
