Break-in adds to heartbreak of father's death

Paul Butler with the 4WD that was broken into at the South Auckland Hospice while members of his family were visiting his brother Warren who passed away. Photo / Dean Purcell

While Jo Knight was saying goodbye to her father for the last time someone broke into her car and stole irreplaceable photos of her dad.

Mrs Knight's father, Warren Butler, had been battling cancer for the past six months. His condition took a sudden turn for the worse last week so she flew back to New Zealand from England to see him before he died.

Mrs Knight, 37, did not make it in time and he died on Sunday night - 12 hours before she landed.

She went to say goodbye to him with her sister and mother at Hospice South Auckland, Manurewa, yesterday morning.

When they returned to their car in the hospice carpark, they found the driver's window smashed. Two laptops, wallets, makeup, iPods and Mrs Knight's passport had been stolen.

"When I saw it, I just thought, 'surely not today'. It was just terrible, you know, on top of everything else," she said.

Among the stolen items was her sister's laptop which had the only copies of photographs of her father on it. "I just want them back, they're irreplaceable. And my passport, it's the last thing you want to deal with at a time like this," Mrs Knight said.

Mr Butler's brother, Paul, said he was heartbroken by the theft and that it added to the stress of losing a loved one.

"It just makes a sad situation even sadder. It was particularly hard for my brother's wife to come out and see her car smashed, and for his daughters who lost all their photos of him that they were going to use at his funeral on Thursday," Mr Butler said.

Mrs Knight reported the incident to Counties Manukau police yesterday afternoon.

Mr Butler said he was disappointed with the police's response as they did not even go to the hospice where it happened.

"I expected much more from them, they could have at least sent one car out there to look for witnesses."

Mr Butler returned to Hospice South Auckland yesterday evening to see if he could find any clues himself but he came back empty-handed.

Counties Manukau police spokeswoman Natalie Swart said because of the high number of "smash and grab" car thefts, it was very difficult for police to attend every incident.

"We took a detailed report over the phone rather then sending a car out ... it would have taken a long time to get someone out there to talk to them, so it was more efficient to take the report over the phone."

She said it was regrettable that the family was not satisfied with the police response.

"But unfortunately we can't be everywhere at once and we need to prioritise where we are."

Hospice South Auckland chief executive Gary Sturgess said he was shocked to hear the incident had happened on the property and that it was the first time anything like that had happened.

* Call Counties Manukau police on (09) 261 1300 with any information.