While a Canterbury householder cleaned up after a messy burglary the day before, the four burglars returned and bashed, robbed and kidnapped him.
The 59-year-old Rolleston man was punched, kicked and stomped and the burglars demanded he write a letter changing the ownership of two vehicles to one of their associates.
The group – some were said by police to have links to the Black Power and Tribesmen gangs – robbed him of four guns, his wallet, bank cards, cellphone, and a car.
The robbery ended when a glazier arrived to repair the window smashed when the burglars broke in the day before.
In the Christchurch District Court on Thursday, 24-year-old Rangiora concrete worker William Hewinson admitted charges of burglary, robbery, unlawfully detaining the victim, unlawful possession of four firearms, unlawful possession of a shotgun at Rangiora a few days later, and receiving a stolen $26,000 car.
Judge Alistair Garland remanded Hewinson in custody, but no sentencing date has been set because he has pleaded not guilty to other charges.
The police court documents name two other men and a woman as being involved.
The victim's home in a semi-rural part of Rolleston was burgled at 9am on January 27. They smashed a window using a brick, then made what police said was "an untidy search of the house".
They found the keys for a Ford Falcon XR8 and a Harley Davidson motorcycle and drove them away. The stolen vehicles and a laptop computer had a total value of $90,000.
At 2pm the next day, the victim was in his garage cleaning up the mess from the burglary when the four arrived in his driveway in a large four-wheel-drive car. They told him not to move but he ran out of the garage and jumped into a neighbour's property to try get help.
He got no response at the neighbour's door so tried to call police on his cellphone. The group told him not to use the phone and one of them snatched it off him.
He was then punched in the face by Hewinson, before being punched, stomped and kicked by all the men and dragged back to his own lounge.
The men then told him to tell police the vehicles stolen the previous day had been returned, and they demanded he write a letter changing the ownership of the vehicles to one of their associates.
They then searched his house and took four firearms after finding the keys to his gun safe. Hewinson drove the firearms away in the 4WD they arrived in.
The victim was detained inside his house until about 4pm. The group tried to steal a large television, but the glazier arrived to fix the window broken in the burglary and they left.
Police searched Hewinson's home on January 31 and found a loaded shotgun hidden in the base of his bed. They also found a car worth $26,000, which had been reported stolen five days earlier.
Hewinson admitted riding the motorcycle away after the January 27 burglary. He also admitted his role in the robbery, and admitted knowing the vehicle found at his address had been stolen.