A 26-year-old man has admitted a string of burglaries in the area.
The man, facing 25 charges in relation to burglaries in Pakuranga, Howick and Golflands, pleaded guilty when he appeared in the Manukau District Court last Thursday.
The sentencing for the first time offender is on May 9.
Constable Jasmine Horner-Pascoe says the offender was arrested twice. He was taken into custody on October 31.
“He then went on bail and there was a breach of bail. He was arrested again on November 14 and has been in custody since,” she says.
“A member of the public had taken the car registration down which helped us.”
The Times reported in November last year about the man committing a spate of burglaries, breaking into homes and fleeing on his bicycle with small, valuable items.
His stealing spree came to an end after an electronic item taken during a burglary was tracked down to a local second-hand dealer. This was enough for police to secure a search warrant.
They went to the man’s Pakuranga address on October 31 to search for property taken during a Golflands Drive burglary, only to find $50,000 worth of stolen property at the man’s house.
Stolen pearl necklaces, rings, gold bracelets, earrings and other jewellery as well as souvenir coins, medals, stamp collection and what appears to be a World War II-era bayonet was found.
Constable Pascoe says the Times report evoked a great response from readers and helped the team reunite victims with the stolen property.
“After the Times reported it, we had a lot of emails from the public which helped us to contact victims and reunite people with their stolen property,” she says.
While all the jewellery items have been claimed there is a World War II bayonet that is still unclaimed, she says.
“We thought it would get identified but no one has come forward as yet.”
