Michael Luke Robertson appears at Auckland District Court in 2019 for sentencing after escaping police. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Michael Luke Robertson appears at Auckland District Court in 2019 for sentencing after escaping police. Photo / Jason Oxenham
A serial burglar who was caught with sensitive firearms documents pilfered from Auckland’s old police headquarters has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to 24 charges.
Michael Murray Luke Robertson, 31, sat patiently in the dock at Auckland District Court today as Judge Stephen Bonnar carried out the tedioustask of reviewing the details for each charge and determining a concurrent sentence for each.
He was ordered to serve two years and four months’ imprisonment but has already been in jail 474 days while awaiting resolution of the myriad cases, which date back to 2020.
The former Vincent St police station, which was no longer serving as headquarters but still being used by police for storage, had been burgled multiple times over a 10-day period last May when police crossed paths with Robertson again. He was found sleeping inside a $10,000 Toyota Corolla in central Auckland that had been stolen two days earlier.
While searching the car, police found three “request to produce firearms licence” cards and passport-style photos in the car’s centre console.
“The documents are the property of the New Zealand Police and the defendant did not have permission to have possession of them,” court documents state.
Last June, the Herald revealed that Auckland gun owners who had dealt with the Auckland City District Arms Office dating back to 2003 were at risk of having their names and addresses exposed to criminals in what police acknowledged was an “extremely disappointing” privacy bungle.
Robertson was not charged with burgling the police station — only with being in possession of the stolen police documents, valued in court documents as worth $1 each.
But he was found guilty of five residential burglaries as well as multiple thefts in recent years in an effort to finance his longtime drug addiction.
The burglaries, which included a downtown apartment underground car park, an apartment mail room and a Hillsborough home, resulted in the disappearance of roughly $31,000 worth of items including jewellery, a helmet for the Luna Rossa America’s Cup team and a $10,000 electric bicycle. Most of it has never been recovered, Judge Bonnar noted today.
Robertson was also charged with numerous driving offences, shoving an officer and of brandishing an imitation gun in full view of police - he claimed he had been playing “cops and robbers with his children”.
“Because of your extensive history and the number of charges ... protection of the community is something I must take into account,” the judge said today.
But the judge also noted a cultural report indicating that the defendant came from a broken home and was introduced to drugs and alcohol at a young age. He was also homeless from a young age and spent a significant amount of time in state care.
Police released this photo of Michael Luke Robertson after he escaped from custody in 2019, sparking a manhunt. Photo / NZ Police
Before today, Robertson had racked up 76 convictions as an adult from 2008 to 2020, and 17 Youth Court notations. Of the adult convictions, 43 have been for dishonesty, including 22 for burglary.
His risk of re-offending is high, a probation report found.
After being taken to Avondale Police Station, Robertson said he had to vomit and was allowed to walk to a garden area in the station’s fully enclosed rear car park. But he then bolted, using a dog kennel to leap over the fence.
During today’s hearing, Robertson’s lawyer Libby Brown said her client has worked hard to kick his addiction and is eager to attend Narcotics Anonymous when released from custody.
“I hope you turn your life around,” Judge Bonnar told the defendant as he was escorted back into custody. “For the sake of your children, you need to do that.”
