Man arrested for assaulting dentist, second offender being pursued

The dentist was seriously assaulted when two men broke into Focus 32 Dental on Hukanui Road on May 12 as he was closing up for the night. Photo / File

A man has been arrested and appeared in court on charges relating to the serious assault of a Hamilton dentist last week and inquiries are continuing into a second offender, police say.

A number of search warrants were executed across the city yesterday, Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Patterson of the Hamilton CIB said.

The dentist was seriously assaulted when two men broke into Focus 32 Dental on Hukanui Road on May 12 as he was closing up for the night.

"A 28-year-old man has been arrested as a result of those search warrants" Mr Patterson said.

He appeared in the Hamilton District Court today on aggravated robbery, kidnapping, fraud and serious assault charges and has been remanded in custody.

"Inquiries in relation to the second offender are on-going but police have a number of positive leads to follow up, he said.

In addition, detectives looking for property taken during the robbery, stumbled across a trove of stolen goods, plus drugs and cash at a Frankton address.

"Our detectives located methamphetamine and cannabis packaged and ready for sale, over $2000 in cash and an array of property, some of it still packaged brand new, such as surfboards, electronics and car accessories," Mr Patterson said.

"So far we have been able to identify some of the property as items stolen during burglaries in Hamilton and other parts of the country earlier this year."

A 27-year-old local man was arrested and remanded in custody after appearing in the Hamilton District Court today charged with selling and possessing drugs and receiving stolen property.

"The illegal trade in drugs, particularly methamphetamine and cannabis are recognised as a driver of other crime such as burglary and violence.

"Theft of property is being used to fund offenders' drug habits and finance those involved in the criminal world," Mr Patterson said.

One of the best ways to protect your property, so it was less attractive to burglars and receivers, is by marking it with synthetic DNA or by recording serial numbers or images of valuables on databases such as Operation SNAP (www.snap.org.nz), so it can be easily identified by police, he said.