In July, eight months after Bruce Diprose moved into his house in East Gore, he was burgled twice, and power tools worth over $3000 were taken.
This came as a shock to Mr Diprose, who comes from the North Island. He had lived in the Bay of Plenty and cyclone-torn Wairoa, and had never been burgled before.
"It’s supposed to be hospitable down here," he said.
He discovered the first burglary when he was working on a fence in his backyard. He went into his shed and saw two of his chainsaws were missing.
Then, four weeks later, he entered his home in the dark after work and noticed a bag of his was sitting where it "shouldn’t be", he said.
He turned on the lights and realised all the doors and cupboards were open and his bedroom had been ransacked.
"It’s like, looking around and wondering what to do next," he said.
"I didn’t sleep too well for a few nights."
He believes someone first stole some of his power tools, then came back and took the rest, plus his hunting gear.
Mr Diprose said he was surprised to be a victim of crime in Gore, as he used to live in Wairoa, on the East Coast.
The town in Hawke’s Bay was considered much more dangerous, he said.
Despite this, his Wairoa home was never burgled.
When Cyclone Gabrielle hit in the summer of 2023, the East Coast was ravaged by floods and many houses were destroyed.
However, Mr Diprose’s home was spared as it was on higher ground. The cyclone devastated the small town and it was isolated for weeks, he said.
Most of his stolen tools were bought relatively new off the internet, so he was able to provide digital evidence of the purchases to his insurance company and police.
He wanted to remind others to "make a movie of their life" so if their possessions were stolen, they also had evidence.
Mr Diprose moved to Gore to work as an engineer at Mataura Valley Milk and said the people he worked with were "great".
But now his life revolved around security and moving around his property would now involve unlocking gates and the like, he said.
In sharing his story, he hoped to remind Gore locals to be aware, as something like this could happen to them.
Police reminded people who had been burgled to make a report to the police as soon as possible.
