Burglars steal wedding memory

Steffan Panoho. Photo / Supplied

An amateur photographer is at a loss to explain why burglars went through his house and stole only a camera and a hard drive full of wedding photos.

Steffan Panoho returned to his Mt Wellington home last Tuesday to find the back doors wide open.

His house had been burgled but instead of taking the television sets or jewellery, the thieves stole the computer drive containing photos of his friends' wedding.

"I don't know what they would want with it. You can pick one up for $50 on Trade Me," said Mr Panoho.

He was due to hand the photos over to newly-weds Leslie and Junior Nanai but instead had to tell them they may never see photos from their October wedding.

Mrs Nanai said she was gutted that the only professional photos taken on the day had been stolen.

"When he [Mr Panoho] phoned me and said 'I have bad news', I never thought it would be this bad," said Mrs Nanai.

"We have some from friends and family but none of my husband and I as a newly-wed couple."

The photos had captured every moment from the bride getting ready to the outdoor reception at Highwic historic house in Newmarket.

The couple were looking forward to a dinner with another pair of newly-weds who had also used Mr Panoho as their wedding photographer to show off the snaps from their "amazing" day.

"The day goes by so fast so I was looking forward to going back and re-living the whole thing.

"They were really nice photos, really fun photos," said Mrs Nanai.

Steffan, a marketing manager for Tourism New Zealand, said photography was his passion and he was often called upon by friends and family to capture their wedding day.

He had recently bought a Canon camera that was also stolen by thieves.

The police told Mr Panoho it was not a professional break-in but he wonders if the thieves had already staked out the house.

"They must have been quick.

They seemed to know what they wanted because they didn't go through much stuff."

The thieves left the stereos in the house but managed to take a vacuum cleaner, minus the hose and nozzle.

Mr Panoho said: "They must have been tidy thieves."