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Neighbour's flat repeatedly burgled, court told
A psychiatric report has been ordered for a woman who admitted repeatedly burgling a neighbouring family?s earthquake damaged flat and selling the goods at garage sales.
Judge Peter Kellar ordered a report under the Criminal Procedures (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act for 30-year-old Natalie Curtis to decide how the case should be dealt with.
He remanded her on bail to March 15 at Rangiora for a probation report and sentence, with a report to cover her suitability for home and community detention.
The woman was upset in court, and the judge was told by the pyschiatric nurse at court that she had ?substantial issues? and an appointment had been made for her to see a doctor at Hillmorton Hospital in a fortnight.
Curtis admitted two burglary charges and one theft.
The police are assessing how much reparation will be sought from her, because some of the stolen property has been recovered. A total of about $15,000 worth of goods was involved.
Curtis lived in a block of four flats in Armagh Street, where a neighbouring family left its home and moved to Wanganui until the earthquake aftershocks subsided.
Over about three weeks in May, Curtis repeatedly entered the neighbouring flat through a smashed rear door and carried what the police described as ?a huge amount of property? back to her flat.
She stole a house-lot of furniture and household effects worth more than $10,000.
When the householder returned home on May 26 he found his home ransacked and property stolen. When he went to Curtis? address to ask if she had seen anything suspicious, he noticed some of his daughter?s toys outside the address and called the police.
A search warrant at Curtis? home turned up most of the property, which was photographed and returned to the grateful family. Curtis admitted she had kept most of the property for her and her family but had sold the rest at garage sales.
In July, Curtis argued with a woman relative at an address in St Albans and went to an upstairs bedroom and stole four rings. She said she did this because she was angry with the victim after the argument.
The next month, she went back to the house, forced a door to get inside and took a large amount of jewellery worth about $5000. The police are seeking reparation payments for the secondhand dealers she sold the jewellery to.
