Tourists’ hot trail to thieves turns cold
Opportunistic robbers smashed a campervan’s window in downtown Auckland on Boxing Day and left a British couple stranded in New Zealand.
They stole Sasha Peterson’s Gps-equipped phone, along with almost everything else she and boyfriend Chris Nevin held valuable.
‘‘The thieves took our passports, a laptop, a tablet, hard-drives, all my camera gear . . . but we’re saddest to lose all the memories and information those devices contain,’’ said Peterson.
The couple tracked Peterson’s phone to an apartment block two minutes walk from their Auckland hotel. They assume the culprit, their passports and the rest of their gear are inside the same apartment.
But their hopes of a quick recovery were dashed when police simply knocked on the door of some of the apartments, then told the tourists nobody admitted to having their stolen possessions.
Peterson wasn’t surprised: ‘‘Firstly, they might not answer the door - and secondly, why would they admit to stealing the goods to a policeman at the door?’’ she said.
The phone’s GPS did not pinpoint which specific apartment the phone was in.
Police would not explain why they did not conduct an official search of the apartments to look for the stolen gear.
A police spokeswoman acknowledged police have the power to make an instant search, or to delay and get a warrant.
She said: ’’circumstances would have dictated whether or not a warrant was or wasn’t required to enter any address and search.
‘‘These are usually around urgency when the delay in having to obtain a warrant may mean evidence or property is likely to be disposed of,’’ she said.
As of yesterday morning, Peterson’s phone had been turned off. She believes her belongings would by now have been taken from the apartment block to a market or a bin.
The County Durham pair drove a rented campervan around the country for six weeks and had flights booked to Hong Kong for December 28.
Unable to get emergency passports in time - the British Embassy was closed for the Christmas period - they missed their flight.
Peterson, 27, is half Kiwi, and an Auckland-based family she had never met before had taken the couple in for the meantime.
She and Nevin, 36, said they were losing hope their belongings, worth $1200, would be recovered.
While insurance would cover some of their loss, she said having 15 years’ worth of photos ‘‘probably just chucked in a wrenching.
‘‘They were backed up only in the hard-drive that was stolen and it won’t be any use to anyone.
‘‘My masters dissertation and copies of all our documents were on it too.’’
The couple - both nurses had just spent an idyllic Christmas at a bach in Russell. Snaps from there, and their entire New Zealand adventure, were gone.
‘‘We hadn’t even uploaded anything to Facebook because the internet connection has been bad . . . We were saving them up for when we reached Auckland’s wifi,’’ said Peterson.
She said the experience made her realise how naive she could be - ‘‘not in a bad way but I’m just not one who looks out for the bad in people’’.
Essentially trapped until their re-booked flight on January 10, Peterson and Nevin were determined to make the most of their extra fortnight in New Zealand.
The police spokeswoman said officers were still following up several lines of inquiry. - Fairfax NZ bin’’ was