Hot on thief's heels

Rebecca Cross saw the burglar had a gun. Photo / Jason Dorday

A schoolgirl athletics champion chased a burglar armed with a gun after he was interrupted robbing her Auckland home.

Rebecca Cross, 17, and her family returned to their Onehunga house at 10.45pm on Friday after attending the Auckland Lantern Festival.

They found a mysterious pair of shoes by the gate and the ranchslider open.

Her mother suspected a burglar and decided to investigate: "I thought 'bugger this!' and stormed into the house saying, 'Is someone in here?"'

She chased the burglar to the rear of the house before crashing into the back door as he fled.

The burglar put his shoes back on and ran off with Rebecca's backpack, filled with stolen property.

Rebecca was waiting outside and thought the crashing noise was her mother being hurt by the intruder.

"I thought 'oh no you don't' and took off and chased him. I think he was surprised I was as fast as I was."

Rebecca is a prefect and Year 13 student at Mt Albert Grammar School. She holds the school athletics cup for her prowess in hurdles, long jump and sprinting.

The burglar dropped the backpack during the early stages of the pursuit but later turned round and pointed a gun at Rebecca.

"I saw the barrel and thought 'oh well, if he [was going to shoot me] he'd have shot me already' - so I kept chasing."

She lost the man after 300m when he dived through a hedge.

Her friend, Mt Albert Grammar head girl Lisa Blakemore, who had been to the festival with the Cross family, followed from a distance while talking to police on the phone.

Lisa, 17, said she joined in the chase because she didn't want her friend to confront the man alone.

"We were running after him but I don't think either of us knew what we'd do when we caught up to him. He was kind of fat and wasn't very fast at running."

They came face-to-face briefly after he doubled back through private properties to jump over a fence.

"We just looked at each other for a few seconds and I thought 'what do I do now?'," Lisa said.

The man fled before she could make a move.

Senior Sergeant Matt Rogers said members of the public should use common sense when challenging burglars, but should be wary if the offender was armed.

After being alerted to the chase, police mobilised dog-handlers and the Eagle helicopter..

An unemployed 21-year-old from Mangere appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday charged with aggravated burglary .

The charge sheets allege he pointed a BB-gun at Rebecca and was found in possession of cannabis and a P-pipe, plus Rebecca's iPod.

He is in custody until a bail hearing on Monday.

Rebecca's mother backed her daughter's actions.

"I don't like the fact when people do this you feel like you have to be barricaded in your own home - they're just lowlives. We weren't prepared to take this on the chin."

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: HEATHER McCRACKEN