Woman blocks burglar caught in act

Posed photo - the car of an alleged burglar was blocked from moving by the home owner, who parked behind him in her driveway.

A Carterton mother thwarted a burglary after returning home from a meal out and catching an alleged thief red-handed.

The woman, who declined to be named, said she had arrived home soon after 9pm after eating out in Masterton with her children, aged 6 and 9, on a Friday night a week ago.

A strange car was parked in her driveway and the lights were on and curtains drawn in her lounge and bedroom.

"That was strange by itself because the lights were off and the curtains were open when I left only an hour or two earlier."

A man in his 20s was making his way to the vehicle, which she parked behind, and she approached him after ensuring her children were safe in her car, which she locked.

"Looking back, it was quite scary and maybe I should have stayed in the car with my kids and called the police from there."

She said the man, when asked, gave an explanation of his presence that made no sense to her.

"I was confused by his response, and wondered what he was talking about. I went round the back and saw my back door and windows were wide open. I went inside and our brand new 42-inch TV was gone. I went straight back out and asked him where it was."

The man pleaded ignorance before begging her to move her car, which was blocking his vehicle. She called police.

"I stayed on the line to police the whole time and they got there pretty quickly. No more than about 10 minutes.

"The guy wasn't aggressive at all, not once, he just kept on asking me to move. I was angry, not him. It was my brand new TV that was missing after all."

Police arrested the man and found her television in a nearby bush. The officers also spoke to her children, calming and reassuring them before leaving.

"The police were excellent with the kids, who really were quite afraid. The officers talked to them and settled them down. They were great."

The woman said the incident had drawn her closer to several of her neighbours, who between them had since founded an informal neighbourhood watch and support group.

An Upper Hutt man, 27, is to appear on related charges in the wake of the incident, which was the latest in a string of raids on Carterton homes.

The Wairarapa Times-Age last month reported the theft from two adult students of their computers and study notes among other possessions.

The women, who refused to be named, had been victims of separate daylight burglaries, one of which was the second raid in a year.

The women were told by police four Carterton homes had been raided about the same time in which the thieves had entered the properties through open windows.

Another woman told the Times-Age her Carterton home had been twice burgled in the past several months.

The woman, who also declined to be named, had lost electronics and alcohol in the two raids despite her home being "totally secure" on both occasions; one burglary happening in the day and the other at night.

She had spoken to neighbours and friends about and was told of about a dozen other burglaries committed in Carterton since November.

Police last month in Carterton arrested a 20-year-old man, who lives there and in Palmerston North.

The man had been charged him with a burglary in each of the two centres, said Detective Sergeant Barry Bysouth.