Detective Sargent Todd McDonald details police procedure on burglary cases. Video / Jason Oxenham
A Lower Hutt family are shocked after their brother’s home was “ransacked” just two days after his death, with the burglars taking everything from photos on the fridge to a sheet the man had laid on in his final weeks on the couch.
Rayner James Hutton’s family cannot comprehend the “senseless act” and said many of the items taken have no monetary value.
Hutton, who lived in the suburb of Karori in Wellington, died of cancer on Friday last week. His family, who live in Lower Hutt, told the Herald he had spent his final weeks lying on the couch in his home.
In the end he could not eat, though his final wish on his last day alive was to smell a cheeseburger, they said.
Hutton finally succumbed to his illness in the afternoon of that Friday. On the Saturday, his family gathered around and farewelled his body, sharing memories of a man they said had a “loud, contagious laugh and a wicked sense of humour”.
“Rayner had a huge loyalty towards his friendship circle,” one relative said. “He was an amazing car groomer and loved helping doing yard work for his family and others. When he was given a job he was a hard worker and put all his energy into completing any job.”
They went back to his home that evening to check on the property and “reminisce a bit more”, and the relative gathered together some of his photos, with plans to come back later and take more of the sentimental items to give to other family members.
Before they were able to return and collect more of his things, they were contacted by someone living nearby who had noticed lights on in the property in the early hours of the morning. That person went to the house the next morning and discovered a front door panel had been smashed and the house had been “ransacked” by burglars.
When Hutton’s family arrived on Monday, they discovered the thieves had taken all of the sentimental items, including a baby photo on the fridge, and hand-drawn pictures done by Hutton and his daughter.
Hutton loved going to op shops and buying small trinkets, and all of these had been stolen, along with the electronics, the jug and toaster, food from the pantry, and the sheet on the couch he had spent the last few weeks lying on before his death.
Rayner James Hutton's home in Karori, Wellington, was burgled just days after he died.
A window left open in a lower section of the house led them to believe the thieves had been planning on returning to collect more items, such as furniture.
“The unusual part of the burglary is the personal stuff ... why would you take a baby photo off the fridge?” another relative asked.
“I think what was most disturbing for us and for the people who know Rayner is that he was so meticulous and his house was in order,” said the woman, who noted the house had been left “upside down” by the thieves.
“He would be haunting the person if he saw the state of how his house was left,” said the first relative.
The usually tidy house was left "upside down" by the burglars.
She said they wanted the sentimental items back, if possible. They had been planning on giving some of Hutton’s trinkets to family, then giving the rest back to the op shops. They had also hoped to sell some of the bigger items to pay for a celebration of Hutton’s life.
It was “surreal, to be honest, that people do this”.
The other relative said it was difficult trying to understand “the walk of life” the burglars must be on. “For them, I think, this is just normal.”
A police staff member told them they would likely never know why the burglars had taken what they did and they were “just after the next fix”.
The relative said what had happened was a “senseless act” that “decent people” could not understand.
A glass panel in the front door had been smashed.
“It’s been a real struggle the last three days to understand where that type of person comes from.”
A police spokeswoman confirmed they had received a report of a burglary on Victory Ave, Karori, on Monday.
“Police are making enquiries into the matter,” she said.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
