Burglar foiled by a piggy bank
It would be nice to think Robert Northe paused for a second before levering open a little girl’s Smiggle piggy bank with a screwdriver.
If he had a pang of conscience it didn’t stop him from taking the coin stash. He did, however, make a crucial mistake.
He forgot to take the screwdriver, leaving it right next to the pink piggy bank. The DNA left on the screwdriver would help sink him and his associates.
In 2017 Northe, living in a house in Clyde Rd, Bryndwr, was surrounded by rich pickings. Some of Christchurch’s wealthiest suburbs were within walking distance.
Between February and May 2017, the 32-year-old concrete worker would burgle at least 49 properties within 2km of his home. Some days he did two or three burglaries to fuel his up to $2000-a-day meth addiction. In one day he burgled five homes. A judge called his approach to burglaries ‘‘business-like’’.
Victims would later reveal the devastation left behind from having their homes ransacked, including ‘‘overwhelming anxiety’’ and ongoing fear of loud noises.
Police estimate the group stole nearly $200,000 worth of items. Only about $12,000 would be recovered.
Burgling the houses was only part of the operation. His partners in crime would ensure the goods had been moved on within 24 hours, in most cases to never be seen again.
He left his screwdriver behind on March 24, 2017, a day on which he burgled three homes.
Residential burglaries are a scourge on many Canterbury communities. Police estimate there are 100 house burglaries a week across metropolitan Christchurch.
But in this case, they knew they had a particular problem in Fendalton, Bryndwr and Ilam, with more than 100 burglaries between February and May 2017 in those areas alone.
Some patterns emerged. The types of houses targeted and the time of day were similar. Many of the houses were broken into using a screwdriver. No fingerprints were left.
Police soon realised Northe was living in areas he targeted. Then they kept watch. Constable Casie Bowry started the operation, called Raki, then when she became unwell Detective Sergeant Ross Tarawhiti took over.
The monitoring went on for five months, including text messages and phone conversations between Northe and his associates.
‘‘It’s one thing having an idea it could be that person. It’s another
thing to prove it, ’’ Tarawhiti said.
The arrest
On May 18, police struck. They followed Northe from a house on Bryndwr Rd, where he’d forced open a ranch slider to get in.
They found a $500 gold watch from the house in his bag, along with several screwdrivers.
‘‘It unfolded from there.’’ After three months matching complaints to Northe’s methods, while he was in custody, police searched his home.
His sister, Jasmine Northe, admitted to dealing cannabis, but denied she was involved in a burglary ring. She claimed her brother used her cellphone.
His partner at the time, Janelle Christina Te Puia, said Northe often used her cellphone too and took it out with him, which she said made her worried he was having an affair.
Not his first
Northe wasn’t new to the illegal trade. In 2010, then aged 23, he was jailed for nearly four years for his role in an eight-person crime ring involving burglaries, stolen property and cannabis.
This time, once again, each person in the group had their role.
Northe, police believed, was the main burglar and would identify the houses and break in using a flathead screwdriver. Once inside he systematically searched for anything of value, especially high-end items.
‘‘He would be very selective,’’ Tarawhiti says.
His partner and sister arranged the disposal and sale of the stolen goods. Sometimes they advised people to ‘‘pre-order’’ items to get them at a reduced rate. Payment was cash or a debit card credit.
Over the four months police watched, the women sold stolen laptops, cameras, jewellery, gaming machines and clothing.
Another man, Andrew Radcliffe, would reformat the stolen laptops, or arrange for someone else, to do so from his home. He was serving a home detention sentence at the time.
A burglary record
For all his experience, Northe still made mistakes. Apart from the screwdriver, he left sunglasses and a cellphone he’d stolen at another burglary scene. It had his sim card inside.
Northe has been in custody since his arrest in May 2017, and will be out of action for some time.
Yesterday, Judge Tom Gilbert jailed him for 13 years with a minimum non-parole period of six-anda-half years on 46 burglary charges.
Jasmine Northe and Te Puia were given 12 months home detention each. Radcliffe was sentenced to 17 months’ jail last June but was released almost immediately because he had served all the sentence while on remand.
Dozens of people prepared victim impact statements for yesterday’s sentencing.
One woman said she did not leave her home for the first few weeks after the burglary.
‘‘Every noise, car door, bang, voice, would make me freeze in fear and would require me to check the lock on every window and door, look under every bed and behind every internal door to ensure no one was inside,’’ she said.
Another woman, whose home was turned upside down, said the burglary made her and her husband ‘‘sick to the bones’’ and left an ‘‘emotional scar’’.
But Northe has shown no remorse. His comment before sentencing – that ‘‘it would be s... to come home and find what you had worked hard for gone’’ – was ‘‘so superficial as to be utterly meaningless’’, Crown prosecutor Claire Boshier said.
‘‘This appears to be a record for the largest number of burglary convictions to be sentenced at any one time.’’
Defence lawyer Andrew McKenzie said Northe’s meth addiction required a couple of thousand dollars a day, which explained why he did two or three burglaries a day.
Judge Tom Gilbert said Northe’s offending could not be put down to methamphetamine addiction alone.
‘‘I’ve never come across anyone with such an appetite for burglary or so business-like in their approach.’’
A significant player
Tarawhiti says Northe was a ‘‘significant player’’ in Canterbury’s burglary market.
Some victims moved out of the area, others put in burglar alarms or other security measures because they did not feel safe. Many of the stolen items had been handed down generations. Others could not be traced to their owners.
‘‘He’s affected a very wide group of people. I think he wasn’t going to stop.’’