Burglars steal funeral cash from widow

Just five days after her husband's death, an elderly Papamoa widow is "devastated" that burglars broke into her home and stole money put aside for his funeral.

The burglary is one of more than 20 to have plagued an affluent area of Papamoa, which western Bay of Plenty police say is now their biggest problem area for burglaries.

Papamoa Sergeant John Mills said it was likely the offender or offenders in the recent spate of burglaries were female because cosmetics, clothing and jewellery were the main items taken.

In one case on August 22, an elderly woman was burgled of $800 cash and a cameo brooch worth $1200, after burglars forced their way in through a window at the rear of her home.

The burglars had entered two bedrooms where they rummaged through drawers and cupboards before stealing the $800.

The woman was storing the money to pay for some her husband's funeral costs, Mr Mills said.

The burglars also stole a gold picture frame and a white ornament from the woman's home.

The widow did not want to speak publicly about the burglary because she felt "insecure" after her husband's death and this was made worse by the trauma of being burgled, Mr Mills said.

"The victim is very upset about it. Some people have got no morals whatsoever.

"They've left a recently bereaved person feeling more insecure and devastated."

Mr Mills said he believed people in the community would have information on the burglaries and he urged them to come forward.

"There will be people in the area who know who's doing it.

"There are too many offences for someone else not to have heard or know something about it and police would be very interested to hear from anyone."

Sergeant Rob Glencross of Tauranga said about 20 other homes in an area of 1 sq km around Evans Rd and Pacific View Drive in Papamoa had been burgled in recent weeks.

Police aim to keep burglaries to a maximum of two or fewer each week for the entire Papamoa area but the latest spate was well above that and was concentrated on only a small part of the suburb, he said.

"I would say it is our biggest problem area at the moment in terms of burglaries."

Although other Western Bay police areas such as Tauranga and Greerton were dealing with more burglaries, the number occurring at Papamoa was far too high given the suburb's population.

"When you adjust for population, Papamoa is way higher than it should be and way higher than other areas."

Items stolen in the burglaries were indicative of women offenders, Mr Glencross said.

Police believed the same offender or group of offenders was responsible for the cluster of burglaries over the small area.

"Having a reasonably concentrated group of offences start up and continue tends to suggest that there's either one or maybe at most a couple of different people involved."

It was too difficult to guess the offenders' ages.

Mr Glencross said the offenders had mostly broken into homes by forcing their way through windows or doors but some properties had been left unlocked or insecure.

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES