Man charged after catching suspected burglar

A Waihi man who bundled a suspected thief into his car to take him to the police station has himself been charged -- with assault and kidnapping.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and John Rosenfeldt is flabbergasted he is in court after doing what he believed was the right thing.

The saga started earlier this month when a DVD player his girlfriend Leza Evans had just bought was taken from her Waihi home.

"We plugged it in and all we needed to make it go was a DVD," Ms Evans said.

"We went off to get one and were gone for about an hour."

They returned home to find the house burgled and the DVD player gone -- and Rosenfeldt saw two youths emerge from a nearby hedge.

"We recognised both of the youths," Ms Evans said.

The two of them raced to catch up with the youths and caught who they believed was the alleged thief.

He denied taking anything, instead saying they had been urinating in bushes but Rosenfeldt pushed him into the car to take him to the police station.

The boy started talking about how he could charge Mr Rosenfeldt with assault and kidnapping.

"The boy asked to be let out, so we did," Ms Evans said.

She and Rosenfeldt carried on to the Waihi police station to lay a complaint but Rosenfeldt found himself charged with assault.

Rosenfeldt said he was "very disappointed" at the charges, and pleaded not guilty at his first appearance at Waihi District Court on Tuesday.

Ms Evans said the charges raised the question of when it was okay to defend your own property.

She said elderly Christchurch petanque players who caught an intruder last week were hailed as heroes [see link below] but "I still have no DVD (player), my friend goes to court with this serious charge, and the youth is off scot-free".

Police said they could not comment because the case was before the court.

- nzpa