Jail for stealing laptops, car from Dunedin student flats

A forestry worker who burgled three student flats in one night, stealing more than $5000 of goods and a car. Photo / NZH

A forestry worker who burgled three student flats in one night, stealing more than $5000 of goods and a car, has been jailed for nearly two years.

Police executed a search warrant at the home of 24-year-old Misifosa Tapusoa on October 30 last year — 10 days after the crime spree — and found some of the stolen items, the Dunedin District Court heard yesterday.

Tapusoa, who admitted three charges of burglary and one of unlawfully taking a vehicle, later voluntarily returned two stolen laptops.

Counsel Brendan Stephenson emphasised his client's co-operation with the authorities and said there was no confrontation at any of the addresses broken into.

Judge Josephine Bouchier, though, said that was simply good fortune.

There were six women asleep in one of the flats as Tapusoa burgled it, she said.

First, Tapusoa targeted one student flat in Castle St where he swiped two Macbook laptops, headphones and a television, worth $3200.

In Forth St — just a kilometre away — he struck again.

Tapusoa, the court heard, entered the house through an open bedroom window and rummaged around for items of value.

He left minutes later with another expensive laptop and a set of car keys for a Mazda.

The defendant found the vehicle parked outside and drove off in it with an unknown associate.

It was later found abandoned in View St.

The final burglary, which also took place in Forth St in the early hours of the morning, involved Tapusoa again sneaking in through an unlocked window.

This time he made off with a games console, controllers and electrical cords, worth nearly $1000.

The court heard the victims had been particularly hard hit by the timing of the break-ins.

They had all been studying for exams when the crimes occurred and had found the experience "seriously upsetting", Judge Bouchier said.

Tapusoa was given leave to convert his prison term of 23 months to home detention should an appropriate address become available.