Napier man records unwanted visitor raiding porch for cigarette butts

The creepy sight of an unwanted trespasser on a porch during the early hours of the morning has enraged a Napier resident.

Andrew Plimmer woke to find his recently installed security cameras had captured a woman looking for cigarette butts between 4.17am and 4.30am on Monday - confirming his suspicions.

"It makes me feel pretty uneasy that someone is coming on to my property. It is a big eye-opener," Plimmer said.

Before installing the cameras, the Napier resident noticed that his ashtray and cigarette butts had disappeared after leaving them the night before and thought a family member had possibly stopped by and taken it.

"I didn't really think any more about it," he said.

When it happened again, Plimmer decided to try and catch the person responsible on camera.

"I've got two children at home and if they wake up during the middle of the night and are walking in the lounge when someone is out there, what is going to happen to my kids?"

Plimmer's house is about 40m back from the road.

"If I quit smoking, are they going to come back and break into my house or are they just going to give up? It is the unsurety of it all that has me freaked."

He said a similar thing had happened to his neighbour.

"I don't approve of this kind of thing. If I flick my cigarette butt on the road, they can grab it but if someone is going out of their way to go on to other people's properties just for that, it makes you feel pretty uneasy."

He reported the theft to the Napier Police Station and police they took stills of key frames in the video.

A police spokeswoman said a person found on another person's property could be charged with burglary, or other offences.