Two home invasions happened early Sunday in Amberley, North Canterbury, and in a rural property in Springston.
Four suspects are now in police custody after an armed robbery in Springston, south of Christchurch.
One News reported that the group entered the property at around 1:30am on Sunday. They held the people in the house captive before fleeing in two vehicles, one of which was reportedly stolen.
The suspects are three men and one women.
A pursuit by police took place, and both vehicles were stopped-one ended in Rolleston, and another in Dunsandel. “We heard police cars, dogs, sirens everything from behind our back fence,” said a woman who witness the high speed car chase.
“Obviously [one offender] was running, because the policeman yelled, clear as day, shouted at the top of his lungs, “Don’t f…… move. Get f……down. Stay down,” she recalled. “He obviously moved because the dogs were released and we could hear them barking. And then we heard, oh my God, the scream. Obviously the dog had got him and he was screaming, ‘F…… get him off me.’ I actually felt sorry for him. He was screaming at the top of his lungs.”
The four suspects will appear in the Christchurch District Court tomorrow. They will reportedly be facing a variety of charges.
Another home invasion–which happened in Amberley, North Canterbury–was reported after the Springston incident.
At around 2:30am, a man was reportedly held at gunpoint in his own home while intruders threatened him with a gun. The suspects are also three men and a woman.
The victim, who managed to escape and alert the neighbours, was not hurt, but was traumatised, said Constable Craig Newman. “His mannerisms were such that I believed what he was telling me. He was shaking and was pretty scared.”
Investigations are ongoing, but police said that the victim was taken elsewhere while police do their examinations.
