Two men have admitted to their part in a brazen daylight heist in which merchandise estimated to be worth $200,000 was pilfered from a jewellery store inside a busy Auckland mall — then was offered up for sale to a nearby jewellery wholesaler just hours later.
Raimona Tehau, 28, of Manurewa and Aidan Webster, 19, of Birkdale both pleaded guilty late yesterday afternoon to the aggravated burglary of Brownsons Jewellers in Royal Oak Shopping Mall, one week after co-defendant Benjamin Rikihana Webster, 40, also pleaded guilty.
Police said the trio tried to disguise their identities with face masks, sunglasses and hats after arriving at the shopping centre in a stolen vehicle on the afternoon of Sunday, July 28 last year. After charging into the jewellery store they began systematically smashing display cases with hammers, stuffing “high-end jewellery” into their backpacks.
The jewellery store owner, who was helping a customer at the time, was described in court documents as having fled as the assailants yelled at him. The mall’s building manager also fled after arriving at the store to investigate the noise and finding Benjamin Webster raising a hammer at him in a threatening manner, police alleged.
Security staff was alerted, but the trio got away after running through the mall and driving away at speed. Staff at the jewellery store were left “extremely shaken but unhurt”, police said at the time.