Couple reunited with stolen fishing boat

File photo

Waitakere Police have reunited a Blockhouse Bay couple with their prized fishing boat, after it was found behind a block of flats in Kelston.

A 19-year-old man will reappear in the Waitakere District Court on Tuesday 16 June and at this stage faces two charges of receiving stolen property.

The couple woke up on the morning of Friday 15 May to find that their 59 McClay Cruiser Hard Top Boat with an Evinrude outboard motor had been stolen from the front of their property.

The boat was worth around $80 000.

Despite having locked and secured the vessel with a wheel lock, it had disappeared overnight.

Constable Paul Larsen of the Waitakere Police established that a young man had allegedly been seen painting a boat in a Kelston driveway that weekend.

He managed to locate the address and found a boat.

After a number of enquiries, he was able to establish that it was the boat stolen from Blockhouse Bay, albeit with a new registration plate and a new coat of paint.

Following further investigation Police arrested and charged the 19 year-old man.

"I rang up the owner and said 'we've got your boat here' and he couldn't believe it.
He and his wife came down and we helped them hook it up and tow it back home.

They were so relieved to get it back, it was fantastic to be able to help and give it back to them" says Constable Paul Larsen.

Enquiries into who stole the boat are ongoing and Police are following strong lines of enquiry.