E-bike retrieval attempt leaves woman shaken

A Wellington woman was chased through the city’s streets while reclaiming her stolen electric bike after finding it listed for sale on Facebook.

The woman, whom Stuff has chosen not to identify for her safety, required counselling after she followed up on a Facebook listing depicting the bike.

What followed was a chase through Wellington: The woman rode away on her reclaimed bike as the sellers, one of whom police later confirmed had a manslaughter conviction, gave chase on a scooter.

‘‘I’m scared to ride my bike and I haven’t been sleeping. I’m a strong girl, but this really shook me,’’ she said.

Sergeant Dean Burger said stealing a bike could result in the same seven-year imprisonment penalty as stealing a car, but the lack of a national registration system meant bikes were harder to trace back to their owners.

The woman said she reported the theft to police after her e-bike disappeared from the Gray St bike rack in central Wellington. She contacted them again when she saw her bike posted on Facebook Marketplace three days later.

She set up a meeting at a Mt Cook address as a prospective buyer, hoping that police would accompany her. The woman said police suggested she go to the meeting to check the serial number of the bike.

Police advised her to call 111 once she had identified the bike and officers would come ‘‘to resolve the dispute’’, she said.

Arriving at the address, she was met by a man and a woman whom she recognised from the Facebook listing.

Police later confirmed that both the people were known to police. One had a manslaughter conviction and the other had known gang connections.

‘‘I went there with my friend and called the police and said: I do not feel safe – please come,’’ the woman said.

With the police still on the went back to the deal.

‘‘I said: Before I give you the money, I want to take it for a test ride. And I said to my friend: When I disappear, you get in the car and you disappear,’’ she said.

The woman made her break towards the central Wellington police station with the police still on the line in her pocket and the man following her on a scooter.

The woman said the man grabbed her when she stopped in Willis St and attempted to push her off the bike. He ran when she yelled to onlookers that she was on the phone to police.

Burger said that initial police advice was not to go to the meeting.

‘‘The police position is always going to be that we don’t want people putting themselves in harm’s way,’’ he said. line, she