Auckland man, 78, left wracking his brains for good deeds not rewarded after being given $5000. Photo / Martin Sykes
Auckland man, 78, left wracking his brains for good deeds not rewarded after being given $5000. Photo / Martin Sykes
On a pleasant summer’s afternoon a week before Christmas, a complete stranger walked up to an Auckland pensioner pottering away in his garden and handed over $5000.
Having done so, the stranger turned, walked and then sprinted away.
A month on, the gentleman still has no idea who gave him the money or why.
It’s a bizarre story that has so far defied explanation. The man, aged 78, has ransacked memories in search of a reason for that crisp wad of $50 notes being thrust into his hand.
So far, nothing. He knows of no debt that was ever to be repaid, favour not recognised or betrayal to be made good.
He’s lived a life that didn’t involve easy and quick windfalls of cash money. Rather, he built his own business up from scratch - a white collar trade - and found success enough to sell it on to a multinational.
And the cash incident was no random act of kindness. It was a deliberate, intended delivery.
The man - who does not want to be named - told the Herald: “I was at home doing my thing. I was outside in the garden. I looked up momentarily and this guy approached me.”
It was December 20. The events took place in one of Auckland’s more well-to-do suburbs but the man also wants to keep his location private.
A man in his 20s, looking gym-fit, walked up and asked the older gentleman’s name.
“I told him. He put his hand in his pocket, pulled out an envelope and said, ‘This is for you’.”
Free money - and then he ran
The younger man thrust an envelope into the older gentleman’s hand.
“I said, ‘What’s this?’ and he said, ‘I’m just delivering it’.”
At that point, a few things happened very quickly. In all, the older gentleman estimates his interaction with the younger man lasted 10 seconds and no longer.
The older gentleman said he had an unusual sense that the envelope was filled with money - the feel and heft of it suggested as much.
“I tore it open, one end of it, and saw this plastic bag with all this money.”
The money was delivered in a plastic bag inside a paper envelope.
As he did so, the young man had turned on his heel to walk away, picking up his pace as he went.
“I started to chase after him. ‘Where’s this money from’?,” he asked again. By now, the young man was sprinting away, quickly defeating any chance of the older man catching him.
Now, the older gentleman had a chance to properly examine the envelope. There was nothing about it that offered a clue. Inside were 100 $50 notes, crisp and smooth as if newly-minted and freshly-withdrawn.
His mind racing, he called the police. “I was worried I was being set up.”
Was it possible, he wondered, a $5000 windfall could turn into a visit from large and threatening individuals demanding the “loan” be repaid double.
“I immediately got rid of the money to the police,” he said, sending the officers away with the cash and as detailed a version of events as he could manage.
It wasn’t possible to shake the worry. “The first night we went and stayed in a hotel. Every day since I’ve been looking over my shoulder.
In the time since the money appeared, the older gentleman has discovered his mysterious benefactor had visited the home two days earlier.
He was out at the time and the door to their home was answered by his daughter. On that occasion, the man asked specifically for the older gentleman by name.
“How would he know who I was? How would he know where I lived? I wonder if it has happened to other people?”
Police inquiries have secured no explanation. They did, though, result in an image of the man who handed over the money being secured from a nearby security camera. In itself, that has yet to produce an answer.
A friend with considerable experience of the law pointed out to him the cash was his to claim after handing it in to police as essentially lost property. He’s not sure he wants it - unsure of its provenance and what fish hooks might exist.
The older gentleman has been running scenarios through his head. “I like to think I’m a pretty good sort of person. I can’t think of any real enemies.
“I’ve helped out people when I can. I’ve helped a lot of people financially too.”
And there have been debts he has written off - business and personal - but none he would expect to be repaid now.
“I can’t think of anyone who owes me money. It’s a complete mystery.”
A spokeswoman for police said inquiries into the windfall continued. “When police receive found property, including cash, we make every effort to reunite it with the owner.”
She said in cases where cash more than $50 was handed into police, a one-month timeframe was set to try to find the owner. “Once all lines of inquiry to determine and locate the owner have been exhausted, it is considered unclaimed.”
The money was then able to be claimed by the person who handed it in - or it would be deposited into Crown accounts.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.
