Sophie the triceratops has been returned to Dragonfly shop on Kerikeri Rd but is now badly damaged.
Sophie the triceratops has been returned to Dragonfly shop on Kerikeri Rd but is now badly damaged.
A 41-year-old Kerikeri man has been charged with a burglary that made national headlines after police recovered a stolen dinosaur named Sophie and a life-size fibreglass gorilla.
They were stolen from a fenced-off yard at Dragonfly, a second-hand shop on Kerikeri Rd, in the early hours of May 9.
The owner had given up hope of seeing her 3-metre-long triceratops or the gorilla again when police discovered the statues during a search at a rural property north of Kerikeri.
Sharn Tony Letica appeared in the Kaikohe District Court on Thursday on two charges of burglary, one relating to Dragonfly and the other to Bay of Islands Golf Club on December 21 last year.
He was also charged with stealing a 2000-litre water tank in Kerikeri on May 4 or 5 this year, and with receiving a stolen Ford Courier ute in Onerahi in April.
The stolen statues were found when Kerikeri police searched three addresses as part of an investigation into a string of burglaries and car thefts around the Mid North and Whangārei.
Police also recovered three vehicles, vehicle parts, and a commercial truck-and-trailer unit allegedly stolen in recent months, along with cannabis and $13,000 in cash.
It is understood the dinosaur and gorilla were located at Takou Bay, about 20km north of Kerikeri.
Detective Sergeant Bart Graham, of the Kerikeri Combined Investigation Unit, said Sophie’s owner was pleased to get her statues back but disappointed about the damage they had suffered.
“While police are glad to be able to return the items, it is it unacceptable to take property that does not belong to you, and very disheartening to return the items in a poor condition,” he said.
Photos of the recovered statues show the gorilla’s arms have been cut off while Sophie has sustained a long list of injuries including broken-off horns and holes in her fibreglass hide.
Sophie the dinosaur and her life-sized gorilla friend were found by Kerikeri police after being stolen earlier. Photo / NZ Police
Graham said four other men, aged 18-36, had been arrested as a result of the investigation.
He alleged the offenders had tried to disguise stolen vehicles by removing identifying plates and altering their appearance.
It was a reminder about the risk of buying vehicles via social media without checking if they had been stolen, for example by using the Car Jam website, he said.
The men were due back in the Kaikohe and Whangārei district courts in coming weeks.
Sophie and the unnamed gorilla were well-known in Kerikeri and had become popular with local children. They also featured regularly in selfies and on social media.
The theft, and subsequent recovery, made headlines nationwide.
