Intruder caught on camera
He broke in, patted the dog, had a shower, robbed the house and was caught on camera.
When the Wellington family arrived home on Thursday night an open bottle of milk next to a blaring television was the first clue all was not well in their house.
The Watkins family had security cameras installed and when they reviewed the footage they watched in horror when at about 1.30pm a man smashed a window of their Tawa home and climbed into their home.
A family member said horror then turned to disbelief when the next images showed two police officers and a dog walking straight past the broken window.
‘‘We couldn’t believe they didn’t notice a broken window right beside them,’’ she said. ’’We could see the man standing by the window watching them.’’
When her little brother arrived home from school at 4.30pm on Wednesday he knew something wasn’t right.
‘‘My dad put cameras all through our house and he (the offender) was all over them.
‘‘We saw him climb through the window.’’
She said camera footage showed the man making himself something to eat, watching television and drinking from a bottle of juice.
‘‘We watched him patting our dog and cat, then he got my Mum’s hair dye and dyed his hair and then wiped it on my Dad’s shirt.
‘‘He had a shower and put my Dad’s pants on and stuck my little brother’s sunglasses on his head.’’
After more than an hour at the property, the man left with the keys to the family’s silver-gold Nissan Maxima and ‘‘an armload of stuff’’ and drove off.
Watkins said the police were called about the robbery at 4.30pm on Thursday, but didn’t arrive until 9.15am on Friday to take fingerprints.
A neighbour said the police were in the area at 1.30pm tracking a man ‘‘matching the description of the one who robbed the house’’.
‘‘He’d stolen some jeans from Dressmart and a police dog tracked him ... but the dog lost his scent.’’
On Monday morning police couldn’t confirm if anyone had been arrested for the robbery, but said they were following ‘‘good lines of investigation.’’