Thief raids home with expectant pair inside

An Altezza was stolen from a couple expecting their first baby.

A couple expecting their first baby any day say they feel violated after their home was broken into while they were in bed yesterday morning.

The woman, who did not wish to be named, said personal belongings and their car were taken during the early morning raid.

The car was found a few hours later after the pregnant woman was directed to a public Facebook page on which she had appealed for information about the vehicle's whereabouts.

A comment on the page led her to the car which had been left outside a house on Lerwick Cr, just a three-minute drive from their Freyberg Ave home.

Police confirmed the car had been reported.

The woman's husband was told the thief was most likely wearing gloves as fingerprints were hard to find on the stolen Altezza.

She said her husband had got up from bed to let their cat outside at about 6.30am as he routinely did each morning.

As usual he opened the ranch slider just enough so the cat could come and go as it liked while the couple were home.

"I wouldn't personally think it was open enough for them to get in, but they did," the woman said.

"We don't know if they were casing the house, or whether they had seen us open the door."

When the woman got up just after 7.30am she saw the front door was ajar and realised what had happened.

The thief took her husband's wallet and emptied the coins from her own wallet, but left the credit cards. Her handbag was taken as well as her ipod and a speaker.

The keys to her husband's work van were also taken, the van door was found open but none of his plumbing gear was missing.

"We have lived at this house for three or four years and have never felt unsafe before."

A big fence runs around the perimeter of the property which shields their front lawn from the public. But it was not enough to hide their car.

"When it was found there was mud all through it and grass. Everything had been gone through and the tyre was grazed," she said.

"I just think, I'm supposed to have my baby soon, imagine if it had come and we didn't have a car."

Despite the rocky start to the public holiday the woman said she could not believe the public's willingness to help.

"I was worried about making it so public and putting it on Facebook but the police said it was a good idea. "People I don't even know were helping."

While only a couple of hundred dollars worth of things were taken she said it was the fact that someone had come into their home and gone through their things while they were home that was the worst.

Statistics New Zealand data showed in 2014 there were 80 robberies, 720 incidents of unlawful entry, 1456 thefts and 276 thefts of motor vehicles in the eastern district.