Burglar asks to see family
The burglar who ransacked a family’s coastal Christchurch home during the tsunami alert evacuation in November wants to meet the victims at a restorative justice conference.
Tama Tapine, 24, admitted the burglary charge during a videolink appearance from prison in the Christchurch District Court yesterday.
Judge Robert Murfitt remanded him in custody to March 13 on that charge, and a charge of reckless driving he has also admitted.
Defence counsel Trudi Aickin said Tapine was willing to attend the restorative justice conference if the victims – the Mill family from Bower Ave – were willing to meet him.
Restorative Justice will now contact the parties to see if the meeting can take place. The conferences are usually a chance for offenders to apologise and offer reparations for the losses.
Melissa and Matt Mills and their daughters had electronics, a $15,000 utility vehicle, and equipment for a daughter’s hearing device taken in the burglary.
The stolen items included a $5000 device known as a Roger, which transmits a school teacher’s voice to the pupil’s hearing aid.
Police said Tapine decided to commit a burglary when the New Brighton area was evacuated because of the tsunami risk on the night of the Kaikoura earthquake, on November 14.
He cut a padlock on the locked front gate to get onto the property, searched a garage and then forced a door to a sleepout where he did a messy search, choosing items to steal.
He then forced a rear window on the house and ransacked every room, taking various items.
He found the keys to a utility vehicle and loaded the stolen property into it before driving away.
The vehicle was found abandoned next day.
Reparation of $16,206 is being sought by police, but the figure will have to be clarified before an order is made at sentencing.
Tapine declined to say anything when police interviewed him. – Fairfax NZ