They went through the house, ripping out drywall to reach copper wiring, then loaded kayaks, a dishwasher, roof screws, a dinghy and 10kg of copper into the truck.<\/p>\n
At 7.30am, a neighbour saw the truck outside and contacted the owner, who confirmed it should not be there.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were there for hours,\u201d Judge Greg Davis said at the recent sentencing.<\/p>\n
The offenders left the scene.<\/p>\n
The burglary occurred weeks after Yates came into possession of aluminium extrusion whalers, taking six to a local recycling depot and pocketing $209.<\/p>\n
He later returned with three more, collecting another $157.<\/p>\n
The summary of facts recorded damage to the Parua Bay property of around $10,000 but the victim advised the court it exceeded $30,000 and was not fully covered by insurance.<\/p>\n
The victim addressed the court and said her house was stripped and the insurance claim had been painstaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s taken a lot of detail, every single tradesman that I\u2019ve had to phone, every single item that I\u2019ve had to cost, and the list of items stolen was absolutely huge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As the months passed, the victim noticed other missing items, including sentimental furniture and a jazz CD collection she had purchased with her late husband.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are not just chairs or tables or something like that to the victim of this offending,\u201d Judge Davis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is part of her life, part of the life that she and her late husband created together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are of significant sentimental value to her. They are those things that probably don\u2019t mean much to anybody else, but often mean the world to the person whose property it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just a CD, it\u2019s a memory.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time of the 2025 burglary, Yates had just served a sentence of home detention for other burglaries and was still subject to release conditions.<\/p>\n
The court heard Yates had breached his home detention multiple times, including being absent from the address three times in one month.<\/p>\n
Yates was sentenced to two years and nine months\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi\/Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n