The Star: October 26, 2023

The Star Thursday October 26 2023
8
COURT
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Parents-to-be lose $100k of items
• By Emily Moorhouse
A PREGNANT woman whose
home was targeted in a $100,000
burglary, had not only baby
clothes and her wedding ring
stolen but also her passport,
meaning she couldn’t visit her
dying father overseas.
The woman had travelled from
South Africa to New Zealand
because she thought it was safe.
However, Judge Kevin Phillips
told the offender, Santana Smith,
in court: “You put all those beliefs
down the toilet for her.”
Smith, 25, appeared at the
district court last week for sentencing
after she and an associate
broke into two homes and “ransacked”
them. One of the homes
was that of a widow whose
husband had recently died.
According to the summary of
facts, between January 5 and 8
this year, Smith and an associate
broke into the expecting couple
Hugh and Janene Burnett’s Richmond
home through a window
while they were away on a camping
trip.
Smith and her accomplice
“ransacked” the house to the
point that every room was
littered with the Burnetts’ property.
More than 300 items were
stolen including wedding rings,
laptops, computers, electronic
equipment, a TV, speakers, food,
RANSACKED: Hugh and Janene Burnett’s Richmond home was stripped of all sentimental belongings.
passports and nursery items for
the baby.
Judge Phillips said, “to add
insult to injury”, Smith loaded
up the items into the Burnetts’
car and left.
The combined value of the
property stolen was approximately
$100,000.
The court heard how Burnett
could not visit her dying father
in South Africa due to her passport
being stolen. All her family
pictures on her laptop were also
“gone forever”.
Judge Phillips said Smith also
smoked cigarettes in the house
and put them out on the bedroom
walls.
In November last year, Smith
and an associate also targeted a
widow’s home, whose husband
of 33 years had died around a
similar time to the burglary.
The woman’s engagement ring
was stolen, as well as cameras
containing pictures and videos
of weddings and family footage.
Smith and an associate had
also stolen a golf cart from a golf
club.
Following the burglaries,
police were “thrilled” to recover
a “significant amount of the
property” from both of them.
Hugh Burnett said police had
found “a few” items stolen as well
as property suspected to have
been stolen from others.
“We’ve at least got some sentimental
stuff back, so it’s a little
bit of a win,” he said.
“We’ve had great support from
friends and family, neighbours
and even people we don’t know.
It’s been pretty overwhelming.”
Smith’s lawyer Matt Smith said
she has shown remorse, but was
unable to pay back any reparation
to the victims or make any
emotional harm payments.
He asked the judge to impose
a community-based sentence
for his client, stating she needed
rehabilitation.
However, Judge Phillips
doubted Smith’s remorse, stating
she had told her victims during
a restorative justice meeting that
she did not play a lead role in the
burglaries, something the judge
had “difficulties” with.
He said Smith’s victims had
lost items that had no value to
her but were “absolutely irreplaceable”
to them.
“You were thoroughly and
absolutely involved in it. There
was no thought of the people you
were victimising at the time.”
The court heard Smith had
struggled with addiction issues,
using meth at 18 and was abused
in her family home.
Judge Phillips sentenced Smith
to three years imprisonment. As
Smith could not pay reparation
to any of the victims, this was
not sought by the judge.
This report was produced by Open
Justice – Te Pātītī, a Public
Interest Journalism initiative
funded by NZ on Air
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