An elderly Wānaka man was left in fear for his life on two occasions in one week when his calls for police assistance were not passed on to the Wānaka Police in a timely manner.

The man, who asked not to be named, was alerted to intruders on his property in the small hours of Saturday June 22 and phoned 111 at approximately 3am.

“He got up in the night and on returning to his bedroom, was surprised to see lights in the garden area of his property,” the man’s son told the Wānaka App.

The event was captured on CCTV.

The property owner told the Wānaka App the police operator had informed him that a police sergeant would be dispatched from Cromwell, but no one arrived. 

Wānaka Police were informed of the man’s call at 6.16am the following day. 

Waiting in vain for the police, the man attempted to telephone several friends to seek assistance, including his daughter in Australia. She then phoned NZ Police, who advised her to tell her father to turn on all the lights. This appeared to scare the intruders away.

NZ Police told the Wānaka App that Wānaka police officers went to the man’s property at 7.34am that morning.

Three days later, night-time intruders were again detected by the property owner, who telephoned 111.

He told the Wānaka App that he was advised there were no resources available to attend.

He said he would never forget seeing the door handle slowly turning on the door to his outside porch.

“I thought to myself, I could be in for a bit of a fight here.” 

Fortunately his friends, whom he had sought assistance from, arrived in their vehicle and the intruders left.

A NZ Police spokesperson told the Wānaka App a unit had followed up at 11.35am and provided “prevention advice”.

Wānaka Police Senior Sergeant Fiona Roberts told the Wānaka App that the man had been spoken to by Wānaka police and she had spoken to a family member following the incidents, and that they were her priority.

She declined to comment on the incidents through the media.

The man told the Wānaka App the police advised him that they would undertake an internal investigation of the incident.

The property owner said local police advised him they would have attended the incident if they had been aware of his 111 call for assistance.

The man’s son questioned if police were “actually protecting the community if they could not respond to an attempted robbery taking place at 3am from a 111 call for assistance”.

“... the town and the people of Wānaka deserve better than this,” he said.

The Wānaka App asked NZ Police who made the decision whether or not to call out local police to such incidents, and why the decision was made not to call the police out in this case.

NZ Police did not respond to the questions.