13 April, 2018

Catching a burglar – one for people of Devonport (VIDEO)

A thief attempting an early morning burglary had the misfortune to try his luck at the home of ironman Hamish Wilson.

Not only was Wilson up and set for training he confronted the man and chased him down. “I could have chased him for 15 to 20 km if I had too,” laughed Wilson a few days after the event.

As it was Wilson hardly needed to get up a sweat as the burglar was eventually nabbed by police in Wilson’s street.

The drama unfolded just after 5 am in Mays St when Wilson, who gets up at 4.45am each morning for training, saw a man in the family car “going through our stuff.”

“I yelled out oi” and then the man aged in his mid-20s was off, said Wilson.

Wilson grabbed his cell phone and didn’t hesitate to give chase, calling police at the same time: “I’d been robbed in London and I’d been through a lot over that, and I didn’t want that to happen again.”

WATCH THE CHASE! (no audio)

 

“I was starting to catch him – I can still do four minute kms,” said Wilson. In fact, Wilson had completed half ironman triathlon events in December and January, so fitness wasn’t a  problem.

“I was yelling you can run but you can’t hide when he ran down the driveway to number one (Mays St).”
By this time the police helicopter was on the scene , hovering from above and appeared to have located the man. Then a police team “with the biggest German shepherd I have ever seen” arrived and apprehended the burglar.

Wilson said the man had watches, keys and two bags of money on him – more than likely from earlier burglaries. Indeed, a notification on Facebook revealed a number of people had missing property.
He knows police advise against putting yourself at risk and to let an offender run, inform police and let them do the rest.

But Wilson said: “For me it was one for the people of Devonport – we all work hard for our money so they (burglars) can work hard for there’s too.”

“Devonport is full of people who work hard for their money – many have got high mortgages too. The last thing they need is some jerk stealing from them.”

The whole incident was caught on film via Wilson’s next door neighbours security camera. The first segment has the burglar surveilling the neighbour’s house.

The second part has the man “flying down the driveway and there’s me 15 seconds  later chasing him.”
The man was arrested, but Wilson has yet to hear how he fared in the judicial process.

 

This article first appeared in the Devonport Flagstaff April 20th 2018 edition.