Driver of getaway car, involved in theft, captured on camera
A driver allegedly involved in a theft from a parked car at a popular Christchurch walking track has been captured on cell phone video.
Just after 9 AM on Saturday, a man walking with his children told Chris Lynch Media, he heard glass smash on Dyers Pass Road near the start of the Harry Ell walking track.
The man said when he walked closer to the noise, he saw a man stealing from inside a parked car.
“They smashed the driver’s side window and stole the occupants’ handbags.”
The man said he saw the offender get out of the vehicle and then jump into a car that fled the scene, which he captured on video.
The man said he called the police, but they didn’t attend.
WATCH: Driver of the getaway car captured on camera
“I waited for about 40 minutes for the owners to return.”
By that time, the criminals had been to a supermarket, and a dairy, using the bank cards stolen from the car.
Number plates matching the same plates of the fleeing car were later found in the river near Ashgrove Terrace.
The owner of the vehicle broken into, who was out walking with a friend, told Chris Lynch she felt “creeped out” by the incident.
“We hid our bags really well in the car – it’s even got tinted windows.
They must have been watching us, as the incident happened just after we started our walk.
The victim said the offenders spent $200 on cigarettes at the nearby On the Spot Dairy, and then another $200 at New World in St Martins.
CCTV footage of one of the offenders at the dairy showed him wearing a medical mask and coughing a lot.
“I get it that times are tough, and everyone is getting a bit desperate and crazy, but come on. I now have to get new driver licenses and cards.
By the sounds of it, they [offenders] didn’t really care if people saw them committing a crime, as there were other witnesses who saw the theft take place.”
The victim said her bank had been good about everything and she was expected to be reimbursed on Monday.
A police spokeswoman said “police received a report that a vehicle was broken into on Dyers Pass Rd, Cashmere, Christchurch at about 9AM today.
The vehicle has been listed with police as broken into.”
