Pik and Pay Superette owner Harry Luther describes multiple break-ins at his business. Video / Mike Scott
Hamilton dairy owner Harry Luther has lost count of the number of times his Te Rapa store has been burgled by armed teenagers, who then revel in online notoriety after posting a video of the crime to social media.
After emptying Pik & Pay Superette's cigarette cabinet one September evening, Luther claims a young person brazenly sent an Instagram message to his brother the next morning, asking: "your smoke cabinets restocked yet? hahahaha".
"That's how brave they are, thinking that it's cool. They are directly messaging us saying, 'I did it last night, is it refilled now? We are going to come back'."
Luther said he had no idea how the alleged offenders knew how to find his brother on Instagram.
He is scared to call his insurance company to report yet another burglary, and security costs have forced him to try to sell the business at a time no one wants to buy it.
"These kids are doing it for fun, they are playing games.
"One group will come in, attack my shop and they will put it on Instagram and Facebook like proudly showing off, then another group will check in, get jealous and they will say, 'We will do a bigger [robbery]'.
"It needs to be controlled, otherwise we're living in South Africa or something. It's worse than India."
Harry Luther owns Pik & Pay Superette in Te Rapa. Photo / Mike Scott
Luther is one of a string of dairy, bottle store and gas station owners across Auckland and Waikato who are crying out for tougher penalties to be imposed on repeat youth offenders.
Many say burglars have become more violent, and daytime attacks - involving guns, axes and hammers - have increased at a time when police resources are stretched. The violence has left store owners feeling helpless, unprotected and unsupported by authorities.
Some of their family members and staff have been injured and traumatised by the violence; some not even returning to work out of fear.
Owners are left with hefty repair and security bills as they clean up the damage - sometimes several times in a week.
"If I wasn't an [real estate] agent I would have gone bankrupt by now, the amount of burglaries I've had," Luther said.
He chased a group of teenagers out of his Glenview store last weekend, shouting and wielding a hockey stick.
"They showed me a knife ... I just ran at them and all four jumped in the car and drove off. I started chasing them in my car and [called] 111 saying I'm chasing.
"[Police] said sorry we can't come in right now, go back to your shop. I was like, 'What the hell'."
Police confirmed Luther's Te Rapa store has had five burglaries reported this year, on February 1, 13, 18, 19 and 25.
Police have made one arrest for the February 1 incident with investigations ongoing to identify others involved.
Three arrests have been made in relation to the February 18 and 19 incidents and no arrests made for the February 25 incident. Investigations are ongoing, police said.
"We are aware of images and videos being posted online regarding burglaries and ram raids and are actively monitoring these sites and accounts of interest."
Police said anecdotally in recent months, compared with the same period last year, there has been a slight increase in daytime burglaries in some areas.
"However, it's important to note there have been slight decreases in other areas," police said in a statement.
Hamilton dairy owner Harry Luther said his store has been targeted by youths multiple times this year. Photo / Mike Scott
Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford agrees robberies are becoming more brazen and often in daylight.
"We are also hearing of videos being posted on social media.
"Robbing a dairy is a crime, and it's just not okay to steal from dairies or other retail stores, or threaten or assault workers."
Harford said the issue is not the potential penalties, but lack of consequences for many criminals.
"Retail NZ has proposed a system whereby minor offenders get tickets for the first couple of offences, to ensure there are real consequences for criminal behaviour, before being moved firmly into the court system."
Harford said the system has been proposed to the previous and current Government, but he's unsure if it's being seriously considered.
"We propose an amendment to ... the Crimes Act to effect the legality of an infringement notice," a Retail NZ action plan from 2017 said.
"Where an offender receives more than two infringement notices, or where the theft is committed as part of an organised criminal gang, it is appropriate for stronger penalties to apply, including imprisonment.
"We recommend that the Government include funding in the 2017 Budget for such initiatives, to take effect from July 2017."
He said a new police unit dedicated to cracking down on retail crime is being established. The unit was announced in November and set to start this year.
Dairy owners claim aggravated robberies are more violent, brazen and in daylight hours. Photo / Supplied
Police figures obtained under the Official Information Act show the number of reported victimisations for burglaries of commercial locations increased by almost 800 between 2020 and 2021 nationwide.
The number of reports in Auckland City rose from 1200 to more than 1500 between 2020 and 2021, and in Waikato it jumped from 965 to 1227.
The number of reported aggravated burglaries of Waikato commercial premises jumped from just three in 2020 to 13 last year.
Nationally there were 49 reported victimisations for aggravated burglaries of commercial premises in 2021, up from 35 in 2020 and 27 in 2019.
In Auckland there were 16 reported last year across Counties Manukau, Waitemata and Auckland City, 15 in 2020 and just 7 in 2019.
Some store owners told the Herald they fear the desire for social media notoriety is fuelling the robberies, as well as a black market for cigarettes and young people being used as pawns by organised criminals.
Social media videos and photos shown to the Herald display young teenage boys posing in front of hundreds of cigarette packets on the floor of a home, or proudly displaying them in a gloved hand while in the back seat of a car.
Queenie Chiang from The Boulevard dairy in Sunnyhills, Auckland, claims police found a group who robbed her store thanks to a video posted to Instagram.
She was threatened with an axe among four attempted burglaries in four weeks, including one ram raid.
She now parks her car in front of the store to prevent further ram raids.
Police said two incidents are still under investigation, while a third that occurred in early February has been filed due to no further lines of inquiry.
Queenie Chiang from The Boulevard dairy in Auckland was threatened with an axe among four attempted burglaries in four weeks. Photo / Supplied
Increasing violence
Ngāruawāhia retailer Ash Parmar believes burglars are "getting younger and vicious ... because they aren't scared of the law".
"I've been in retail for 17 years and it's never been this bad. I've seen so many videos of all these robberies, you can tell from the body shape, these are kids."
Prakash Vakacharla, who owns a dairy in Cambridge Rd in Hamilton, said he had many sleepless nights after being threatened at gunpoint one Saturday afternoon.
"One person comes with a gun, the other guy with a hammer. They take the complete smokes cabinet, and they take the till and also my personal belongings; my wallet, my phone."
He said staff have stopped working at the store out of fear for their safety.
Dairy owners say burglars are stealing cigarettes and cash registers. Photo / Supplied
A west Auckland superette owner, who did not want to be named, said he had been targeted four times in the six months to February.
About 6pm on February 9, two men entered the store with a large wooden plank.
"Only my wife was here that time. One guy held her while another guy taking out cigarettes from cabinet, and then other guy holding her brought her to the counter.
"She was following what he was saying but he still punched her on the face."
Police said the incidents are at different stages of investigation and several people have been arrested and are now before the courts.
"Our staff have been working with the store owner around prevention measures that can be put in place to deter future offending."
Organiser of the Waikato Retail Association Azfar Mohammad said security measures such as fog cannons, bollards and steel rods on windows do not provide enough protection – and are in fact "caging" in staff.
"Doesn't matter if they are under 18. If they are repeat offenders, after two or three times, they must be treated like hard criminals," he told the Herald.
"They know the law, and they are abusing it. That's why they need to change the law, that's all."
Dairy owners are left with hefty repair and security bills. Photo / Supplied
Parmar said simply preventing dairies and other stores from selling cigarettes will not solve the problem.
"You've allowed these guys to become vicious, you remove the cigarettes from the equation, they're just going to steal something else.
"They might come into your home, or your grandparents' home. We have to fix this problem of these young kids stealing."
He is also calling for young people under 18 to face tougher penalties.
"A hammer to your head, held by a 15-year-old, it hurts the same. Especially when a 15-year-old knows he's going to get away with it, he's going to hit a little bit harder."
Ministry of Justice figures show that last year, 74 per cent of children and young people had their most serious charge proved.
As a result, they were either discharged, received a Youth Court order or were convicted and sentenced in an adult court for their most serious charge.
Burglary and robbery remain the most frequent serious charges faced by a child or young person.
Adults convicted of aggravated burglary are liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 14 years, according to the Crimes Act.
Dinsdale Caltex owner Amit Khanna said police do not have the resources to investigate a number of petrol runs at the gas station.
He received an email from police in February stating: "we currently have over 700 files awaiting assessment and investigation, and less than the fingers on your hand of staff to even look at them, along with multiple new files being added to the list each day".
"While this is not your problem, I am just outlining why there may be delays or no investigation commenced on some files," the email shown to the Herald read.
Other store owners praised police for their response, but believe the problem lies with the country's youth justice system.
