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After their home was burgled and trashed, Nagesh Kakanoor and his family spent an anxious night wondering not only if the people who had broken into their house would return but if police would come to investigate their complaint.
Thieves broke through Mr Kakanoor's front door in broad daylight then turned the house upside down before leaving with mobile phones, silverware and foreign currency.
His wife Padnapriya had returned to their Mt Albert home late that afternoon to find the front door open along with all their wardrobes, drawers and cupboards.
She called the police, who told her not to touch anything.
"They said the crime team will be in touch with you to make an appointment and they will come and see you. They didn't say when but said they were on a tight schedule," he said.
Mr Kakanoor said he was "absolutely shit-scared" the people who broke into his home would return. He also feared their being in the house could taint the crime scene.
Mr Kakanoor eventually contacted western area commander Inspector Jim Wilson, whom he had dealt with in the search for his missing brother-in-law, Srikanth Rayadurgam.
He said police were at his home the following day about 9am.
"A lot of my friends were saying it will take at least two or three days for the police to come," he said.
"When they found out they were there the next day they were saying 'you're very lucky'."
Mr Kakanoor said he called friends in to mind his home when he left for work the next morning, but police found nothing that had helped their inquiries during their visit the following day.
He believes they might have found fingerprints or footprints from his wooden floorboards, had they been there sooner.
Three weeks after the break-in, his two children have still not been into the bedroom that was trashed.
Mr Kakanoor is not confident the thieves will be caught, and he does not think his case is a priority for the police.
"My question to police is they have patrol cars sitting on the motorway trying to get tickets but they won't come here in the first instance. It can be a very distressing situation for a family."
