Three young people could be heard urging a terrified man to come outside and talk to them before they smashed their way into his home and killed a 12-week-old puppy.
The attack, on Torrington Cres in the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes, occurred during what police have called a "half-hour crime spree" by a group of teenagers on Monday night.
Vaikalafi Tufi, 26, heard a noise outside about 9.30pm and thought it was someone on his property. He looked outside and saw three young men climbing over the fence into the neighbour's yard. At the same time his brother-in-law Falakiko Sanalio heard noises coming from next door.
A father of three children, aged 9, 8 and 4, locked himself and his family in a room after the intruders forced their way in by smashing a glass door. When the family emerged they found their purebred brown labrador, Milo, had been killed.
