![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/copy-of-stolen-ute-270826-jpg.webp\")
A police dog handler attempts to track an occupant of a stolen vehicle that was abandoned in Dunedin on Thursday. Photo: Gerard O’Brien <\/p>\nPolice have charged two teenagers over a spate of vehicle thefts in Dunedin.<\/p>\n
Sergeant Matt Lee, of Dunedin, said police arrested two 15-year-olds in Brockville about 9pm on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The pair were wanted in relation to a string of vehicle thefts on Wednesday night, he said.<\/p>\n
Sgt Lee said they were each charged with two counts of unlawfully takes motor vehicle, relating to four vehicles total.<\/p>\n
One teen was charged with unlawfully gets into motor vehicle and both faced historic shoplifting charges.<\/p>\n
The teens were held in police custody and expected to appear in the Dunedin Youth Court on Friday.<\/p>\n
City hit by wave of thefts <\/p>\n
All week, Dunedin residents have walked out of their houses to find their cars gone\u00a0and the finger of blame is once again being pointed at unruly youths.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the stolen vehicles went on to be involved in an alleged\u00a0hit-and-run, before being dumped and stolen again later in the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Otago Daily Times has spoken to multiple victims of car theft\u00a0and attempted car theft\u00a0this week, and many \u00a0say they did not\u00a0believe the perpetrators would be held to account. <\/p>\n
Local social media is awash with people appealing to the public for sightings of\u00a0stolen vehicles\u00a0and, on the flip-side, youths posting videos of themselves stealing cars and meddling with ignitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A police dog handler attempts to track an occupant of a stolen vehicle that was abandoned in Dunedin on Thursday. Photo: Gerard O’Brien <\/p>\n
Warren Bennett said when he went outside at 9.30am on Wednesday his Subaru Forester\u00a0was gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[I] went to see the police. They\u00a0told me there\u2019s probably not a lot they can do about it because they reckon they wouldn\u2019t find it or it\u2019s probably wrecked if they do find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He believed the perpetrators were youths.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in the day if people that age got caught doing something, they got charged,\u2019\u2019 he said. <\/p>\n
\u201c[The government] could fix this problem by bringing back bloody\u00a0boys\u2019 homes \u2014\u00a0they do it because they know they can get away with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He speculated\u00a0it was only a matter of time before vigilante justice reared its head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/copy-of-pixel_stolen_car_270826-jpg.webp\"){kind=tracking}
A stolen vehicle left abandoned and running on a North Dunedin street. Photo: Supplied <\/p>\n
\u201cI said to the police the other day \u2018Well, what happens if I catch these guys?\u2019 and they said to me, \u2018If you lay a hand on them, you get done for assault\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Hang on, I\u2019m the victim here.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Seth Sinclair\u2019s car was taken in the middle of the day on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said it was locked and parked on the street in the Caversham area when it was stolen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The alleged thieves were caught on CCTV joyriding\u00a0and doing burnouts on a suburban street before abandoning it at First Church.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they parked it, they crashed it through the parking bollard at the church.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police were called and the incident was under investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/copy-of-785363046_4579735208929829_-jpg.webp\")
A smashed window in a car thieves attempted to steal. Photo: Supplied <\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Mr\u00a0Sinclair\u2019s\u00a0brother\u00a0\u2014\u00a0who lives across town \u2014 called to say his car had\u00a0been stolen overnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a pretty interesting little 24 hours for us, to say the least.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His brother\u2019s vehicle was later used in a hit-and-run, before being dumped and stolen again later in the day.<\/p>\n
Simon Henderson was stopped at the intersection of Cumberland St North and Howe St\u00a0in his car when the stolen vehicle struck him. \u00a0<\/p>\n
He heard the crash before he saw it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018What\u2019s that noise?\u2019 It was someone obviously with locked-up brakes on a wet, tarsealed road \u2026\u00a0and I heard it coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cNext minute, bang \u2014\u00a0straight into the back of my car.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/copy-of-785779453_10163402108491997-jpg.webp\")
A vehicle thieves attempted to steal in Dunedin. Photo: Supplied <\/p>\n
The vehicle\u00a0then reversed, did a 180-degree spin\u00a0and drove off at about 100kmh,\u00a0weaving through traffic.<\/p>\n
Mr Henderson found a police officer a little further down the road and told them he had just been the victim of a hit-and-run.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe young policeman looked at me and said, \u2018I\u2019m too busy for that.\u00a0I\u2019m on another job\u2019 \u2014 I thought, \u2018Oh, bugger you\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Dunedin Central Police Station, he was told he would need to fill in a form online.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018Ah, what\u2019s the point?\u2019 Where\u2019s the justice?\u201d<\/p>\n
After the way he was treated, he had not\u00a0bothered reporting\u00a0the incident, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Senior Sergeant Iain Notman\u00a0said there were about\u00a0 two dozen car thefts in the past four weeks in Dunedin that police were investigating.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/copy-of-786121791_1058110717081649_-jpg.webp\")
Broken glass covers the interior of a vehicle in Dunedin after an attempted theft. Photo: Supplied <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile police are unable to confirm if any of the recent incidents involved youth, in general police need to hold young people to account for their offending,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said they could do that through\u00a0restorative justice processes, or\u00a0through the Youth Court.<\/p>\n
Snr Sgt Notman urged people not to take \u201cmatters into\u00a0their own hands\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He instead asked people to take some additional steps to help keep their vehicles safe, such as by parking vehicles off the road and in carports or locked garages, if possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Steering wheel locks were also a helpful way to deter thieves, and it was a good idea to leave as little in your car overnight as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re working hard to find these offenders, but we need the community to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
If anyone had any information or noticed suspicious behaviour, they should\u00a0 contact 105.\u00a0<\/p>\n
laine.priestley@odt.co.nz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police have charged two teenagers over a spate of vehicle thefts in Dunedin. Sergeant Matt Lee, of Dunedin,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-582497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}