Man in wet-weather garb steals $5000

A man dressed in a full-length raincoat, with a hood masking his face, brazenly walked into a Woodville hotel on a boiling hot day and stole thousands of dollars.

The man was captured on CCTV taking at least $5000 from a cash drawer at the New Central Hotel in Woodville, 25km east of Palmerston North, on December 23.

Dannevirke police detective Shane Brown said the burglary appeared planned and the man might be local and a patron of the hotel.

"The guy running the bar was in the throes of putting out signs and while he was doing that a male has walked in ... in less than half a minute he walked over to the bar, reached over to the cash drawer behind the bar and took a large sum of money - it was more than $5000," he told Hawke's Bay Today.

The man was spotted on Atkinson and Ormond Streets before and after the 10am burglary, as his strange outfit drew attention.

"He would have stood out dressed like that, so we are looking for other people who might have seen where he went or where he came from," Mr Brown said.

Mr Brown said the man was wearing almost full-length wet-weather gear with the hood pulled tight around his face, over leggings and sneakers.

- NZPA

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