Students' text appeal causes phone thief to have change of heart

Students (from left) Kate Randhawa, Kate McDonald, Julia Kerr and Briar Middleton, had possessions stolen from a locked car, and later contacted the thief by text (above). Photo / Olivia Van Diepen

By contacting their stolen mobile phone, a group of Auckland students have sweet-talked their possessions back from a remorseful robber.

A sequence of texts show the savvy University of Otago students communicating with the man who stole their handbags from a Christchurch carpark this month.

Screenshots of the exchange show the alleged thief at first mocking the women, before succumbing to guilt for stealing from "poor as" students and finally agreeing to return what he took.

In Christchurch for a friend's 21st birthday party, Aucklanders Kate McDonald, Kate Randhawa, Julia Kerr, Briar Middleton and Olivia Van Diepen, all 20, left their possessions in a locked car while they visited the New Brighton Pier on their way back to Dunedin on Sunday, March 15.

Arts and law student Ms McDonald said the group returned from the pier to find the locks of her Toyota Corolla picked. And while the bulk of their luggage was still there, four handbags containing their wallets, passports, IDs, bank cards and Ms Kerr's mobile phone had been taken.

"So we started driving back to Dunedin and thought, 'They have Julia's phone, why don't we try and contact them and see if anything comes out of it'."

Ms McDonald sent a message to Ms Kerr's phone making light of the situation: "Sorry we didn't have much cash we are povo students [sic]."

The person with the phone replied, joking about the bags' contents and admitted to spending the small amount of cash in them on lunch.

Encouraged by the response, Ms McDonald called the phone and a young-sounding man answered.

"I was just like, 'What's up? How's it going?' and ended up having a big convo with them - and he said he felt really bad and they were really sorry."

Ms McDonald managed to wrangle a deal with him to drop the gear at Spencer Beach Holiday Park - about 16km north of where it was taken from - for the women to collect.

But he also offered a warning: "Nexts tym take ya bags with ya [sic]," he advised.