No arrest yet after thieves steal about 10 vehicles over two nights in Gisborne

Samantha Tuhura said her brother had only recently paid off his first car when it was stolen on Monday night and found written off the next morning. Photo / Samantha Tuhura

Gisborne residents hit during a spate of vehicle thefts and break-ins this week say their lives have been disrupted by the loss of their cars and the cost of repairs or replacement.

Samantha Tuhura said she was moving a vehicle about 6.30am on Tuesday when she noticed her brother’s car was missing and an abandoned car was left running outside her property on Mary St.

“My brother who owns the car was about ready to go to work ... next minute they are coming back up and they are like, ‘well, there is no car there’ and we realised it had been stolen,” Tuhura said.

She realised not long afterwards that the ignition slot of the abandoned car had been ripped out, which she believed meant it was likely to have been stolen too.

After posting about her brother’s stolen car on social media, someone told her they had seen it on Cochrane St, about 3.5km away from their home.

“I took off down Cochrane and the cops were already there. It had been crashed into a power pole and they were just waiting for the tow truck to come.”

The car was not insured and had been written off.

“That was his first car that he has just not long paid off. People don’t think of that. We’ve got a person who works full-time who now has lost his vehicle.”

The theft came as a big shock, she said.

“I have been living in this street for basically my whole life ... 34 years ... and I can’t say I’ve ever had anybody steal anything from my house.”

An inner-Kaitī resident, who did not want to be named for privacy reasons, said someone had tried to break into his uninsured car and ruined its ignition slot. He found the damaged vehicle when he was about to go to work on Monday morning.

“You feel a bit of anger. It doesn’t just affect your everyday routine but your whole family’s routine,” he said.

“The repairers I took it in to were able to quote me straight away because they had done so many.”

He hoped his report would help feed into intelligence for authorities about where break-in incidents were happening.

“What I have heard now is I need to up my security around my home, so I am looking to put cameras up around certain areas on my property.”

A police spokeswoman said about 10 vehicles were reported stolen in the Gisborne area on Monday and Tuesday night this week.

“A small number of the vehicles were located abandoned nearby. However, the majority of them remain outstanding,” the spokeswoman said.

No arrests had been made as of Friday and police inquiries into the reported thefts were ongoing, including reviewing any possible CCTV footage from the relevant areas.

“Police are urging all vehicle owners to take additional precautions to secure their vehicles, such as locking doors, removing valuables from sight and parking in well-lit areas.”

Matthew Currie, owner of Bensons Auto Clinic, said he had been seeing a lot more jobs related to break-ins than usual in the past three to four months.

“It died down for a short time but then popped back up,” Currie said.

Repairs could cost up to $1000 for the parts, or more if the entire ignition was replaced and new keys were required.

Stu Smith, owner of Gisborne Glass Ltd, said they had about three corner glass repair jobs come in this week, likely related to break-ins, but he had not noticed any more than the usual amount.

“To me, it is not a big spike.”

James Pocock joined the Gisborne Herald as chief reporter in 2024 after covering environmental, local government and post-cyclone issues in Hawke’s Bay. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives near Gisborne. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz.