The news left the family feeling anxious and uncertain about the safety of their home.
Learning their family vehicle had been stolen and deliberately set alight the next day added further misery to what should have been an enjoyable break.
This week the woman addressed one of the men responsible as he appeared in the Christchurch District Court.
But, Ethan Smith, a 25-year-old father-of-two with nearly 50 dishonesty convictions, appeared impassive as the woman stood and addressed him.
She fought back tears saying her family had been profoundly affected and felt forced to sell and move on.
“I have experienced disrupted sleep, anxiety, hyper-vigilance and recurring nightmares, which continue even after moving to a new home,” she said.
“My children were also affected, becoming fearful of unexpected noises, knocks at the door, and being alone in different parts of the house; it has been incredibly difficult to see them lose their sense of safety.”
The family’s fears were compounded in the following weeks when they found out who had targeted their property.
“We learned that the offenders were individuals we had known in our younger years,” the 29-year-old woman told the court.
“This knowledge made the situation feel personal and significantly increased our sense of vulnerability and betrayal.”
The woman said the effects remain significant more than 12 months on.
“I continue to experience anxiety, disrupted sleep and persistent fear.
“The offending has altered the way we view our home environment, our routines and our personal security.
“The burglary, theft, arson and deliberate damage to our property have had a profound and lasting impact on me, my partner and our three children.”
The burglaries
The family were not Smith’s only victims though and this week he appeared in court on charges relating to multiple burglaries, arson, receiving, refusing to give information, possession of methamphetamine and driving while suspended.
Crown prosecutor Jade Lancaster said his co-offender Tyler Sluce had already been convicted and sentenced.
According to the summary of facts, Smith and Sluce went to the Christchurch home about 3am on June 15, 2025, broke in and took multiple items including Ritalin and melatonin for the victim’s 11-year-old child, all the spare keys to the house, and keys to the family car.
They got into the car about 4.35am and loaded it with the stolen items, including a 65-inch television, clothing, shoes, vacuum and air fryer.
Later that day they drove the stolen car to an Environment Canterbury-managed property north of Christchurch where they set fire to it about 10.30pm.
The $6500 vehicle was destroyed.
Meanwhile, Smith and an unknown number of associates had burgled another Christchurch home 10 days earlier as the occupants lay sleeping in the two-storey dwelling.
The residents were upstairs as Smith waited in a car while his associates broke in and searched both levels of the home, leaving wardrobes, cabinets and cupboards open.
Numerous items were strewn and thrown around.
A $1500 silver bracelet with a teardrop jewel containing ashes of a victim’s dog was taken with a wallet, spare keys, shoes, clothes, garage door remotes and a supermarket gift card.
Smith used the stolen gift card at a Christchurch supermarket that day.
Ethan Smith was sentenced at the Christchurch District Court. Photo / Anna Heath.
Judge Gerard Lynch said the homeowner felt vulnerable and distressed knowing someone had wandered through their house while they were asleep.
“Their routines have changed and they have implemented security measures.
“They felt extremely vulnerable,” he said.
When police searched Smith’s property the following month, they found stolen shoes connected to the second burglary, methamphetamine and several glass pipes.
Smith refused to give police access to his cellphone and told them he didn’t commit the first burglary but was driving some “young fellas” around who told him they were getting some property back.
Lancaster said none of the others had been identified.
Smith later told police he was given the supermarket gift card as payment for driving while the stolen shoes had been gifted to him by an associate.
More victims
Another victim, in a statement Lancaster read in court, spoke of the overwhelming stress they had suffered after $50,000 in rare and imported tools were stolen from their vehicle.
“This has had a significant impact on me and my family.
“I suffered a loss; we are still carrying that today,” the victim said in the statement.
“I no longer feel safe and fear for my safety and that of my family; this incident has changed how I live and work.”
Police searched Smith’s address in July 2023 and found some of the stolen tools totalling $4000.
The items weren’t identified and were sent to police auction where the victim identified them as his property.
He was able to buy some of them back, however, several of the tools had already been sold.
Judge Lynch said describing the impact of Smith’s offending as enduring was an understatement.
Smith had 46 convictions for dishonesty, the judge said, having been “consistently” before the courts for the past decade.
“Your children will be deprived.
“What is in their interest is that you find a better life for yourself.”
Judge Lynch sentenced Smith to five years’ imprisonment.
Al Williams is an Open Justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald, based in Christchurch. He has worked in daily and community titles in New Zealand and overseas for the last 16 years. Most recently he was editor of the Hauraki-Coromandel Post, based in Whangamatā. He was previously deputy editor of the Cook Islands News.
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