Rural crime: Central Otago farmer’s Landcruiser stolen right outside his house

Hyde farmer Neil Burnett says he's never had any trouble over the 20-odd years he's lived there. Photo / Alice Scott

Central Otago farmer Neil Burnett liked to leave his 1991 Landcruiser parked on the lawn right outside his house.

Living on the main road of Hyde, he kept it there so his friends would know when he was home “and it might be a deterrent for others to know someone was home and not come snooping”, but it didn’t stop an opportunistic thief recently and his beloved Landcruiser has now disappeared without a trace.

The incident has left Burnett “gobsmacked”.

“Never did I expect someone would come into my section with my little white house and take my old Landcruiser.”

The day started like any other for Burnett. He had headed out to work in his side-by-side parked at the back of the house.

“I finished my jobs and thought I would do a bit of wood splitting and I needed a chain I had bought from town, which was in my Landcruiser. I went around the front of my house and bugger me, my truck is gone!”

His first thought was just how big a night had he had the night before.

“But then I remembered I had had a quiet one at home.”

It quickly dawned on him that it had been stolen.

Burnett has reason to believe it was taken mid-to-late morning while he was away working.

“I had a couple of people tell me it was still outside my house when they went past in the morning and then young Henry Cook [who lives in Hyde] reckons he saw it going past school at lunchtime, and he has an eye for detail like that, so I quite believe it.”

Security has never been an issue over the 20-odd years Burnett has lived at the address.

“Before Cooks Transport got sold, the yard was always a hive of activity any day or night and there was always that sense that someone was around and keeping an eye on things.

“Now with the company sold, a lot of the office work is done remotely, and they have different logistics so it’s a lot quieter at the yard.

“We would never lock our houses and we’d leave the keys in our vehicles; I suppose that’s all a thing of the past now.”

He has owned the Landcruiser for about 10 years and with 525,000km on its clock, he assumes it has probably been sold for parts.

“I don’t think I will be seeing it again,” he said.

Burnett’s theft is one of many becoming increasingly apparent in rural areas.

Strath Taieri community constable Allan Lynch moved to the area five years ago from his post in Feilding.

“I thought I had managed to escape it moving to the South, but unfortunately it is creeping its way down.”

Const Lynch believes thieves are becoming more brazen in their offending, taking property any time of the day or night.

“With many of our rural farming areas often within an hour’s drive of a large town or city, they are out here and snooping around.”

Const Lynch said vigilance was needed now more than ever.

“A lot of farmers are buying security cameras, which are an excellent deterrent. They have really come back in price and have a lot of great features and they just give that peace of mind,” he said.