Burglary victim still affected several years later

Janet Peters says she still feels wary after being burgled. Photo/Andrew Warner

Former Tauranga City Council contender Janet Peters is among the countless burglary victims whose lives have been impacted by criminals.

"I found it incredibly intrusive. I felt quite violated by it.

"I changed all the locks and windows," she said.

"It's an invasion of your privacy."

Ms Peters said the burglary happened a few years ago when she was living by herself in an apartment in Auckland.

Ms Peters said despite the years that had passed, the burglary still affected her daily.

She helped set up a local Neighbourhood Support when she arrived at Mount Maunganui several years ago and said she believed they were good for communities.

Last week a Papamoa woman had thousands of dollars worth of gear stolen from her property.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she was angry and hurt. It was the second time in eight months she had been targeted.

This time, thieves stole expensive professional items from her car, parked inside her property.

"They've targeted a single mum who isn't financially well off and has worked extremely hard for this to have all been ripped out from me," she said.

"I'm disgusted by the invasion of privacy and the fact someone thinks it's okay to come on to my property and take my belongings - how can they think they have the right to do this?"

The woman said she believed crime was getting worse in Papamoa and the Mount.

She said burglars needed to be severely dealt with. "I'd like to see them punished by paying back the value of what they have taken to the people they have stolen from, as well as reparation on top of this, and their names made public for all to see along with what they have stolen."

The woman also would like to see least six to 12 months jail time including eight-hour days of monitored hard labour.

Kiri Gillespie

A new interactive map from the Herald Insights team shows the number of burglaries at street level in New Zealand. Readers can explore the interactive map to see how their neighbourhood compares to the rest of the country and, alongside Census data, to see patterns according to income and other socioeconomic factors. Readers can explore these patterns on Herald Insights http://insights.nzherald.co.nz