Auckland family living in fear after series of break-ins

The daughter says the family are thinking of moving house. Photo / iStock

A North Shore family is living in fear after being burgled twice and having two cars broken into in the past six weeks.

The series of break-ins started on December 23 when someone got into the lounge of the Northcote house through an open door and stole $650 in cash intended for Christmas presents from a mother who was sleeping in the room.

Two days later, the mother's 24-year-old daughter's partner woke up to see a man trying to get in through an open bedroom window.

The daughter's car was broken into about three days later and, a month later, the mother's car was broken into last Friday night.

"It's so bad we're thinking of moving," the daughter told the Herald.

"We are three women living in a house. We have started looking at new properties and looking into getting CCTV cameras."

The family, including a younger daughter, aged 20, were "devastated" after the first break-in.

"Mum had just gone to the ATM that day and got out $650 of cash to give away as presents. It was sitting there in her wallet," the older daughter said.

"They didn't take the wallet but they took all the cash and her phone.

"Mum was asleep on the couch. I woke up to hear footsteps on the front porch so I turned the lights on and walked into the lounge, and they ran away off the deck. The porch door was open."

Two nights later her partner woke at about 2am on Boxing Day.

"My partner woke to see a guy's head through my bedroom window trying to get in," she said.

"He said, 'What the hell are you doing?' The man said, 'Oh, sorry, I was trying to look for Jacob.' Then he turned round to his friend and said, 'No, not this house, mate.' He ran off down the street."

The family did not report the second break-in until the next morning because they had been drinking on Christmas Day.

"First thing in the morning we woke up and just called the police from there. We got a telling off for not getting in touch with them sooner," the daughter said.

She said both subsequent car break-ins used the same technique of smashing a back quarter-light window to open a car door.

"We imagine it's the same person just because he keeps coming back and because we left the door open the first time. I think they think we are prime targets," the daughter said.

"Police have come over a couple of times and done all the [finger] prints and taken statements, but there has just been no follow-up, which is the scary thing because it just keeps happening."

Takapuna Police said they could not comment until staff returned to duty after the long weekend.