Bras, steel-toed boots and live eels: Keith the thief's five-year crime spree

Tuesday, 20 April 2021

In the past Keith the thief has terrorised his neighbourhood, stealing work boots, tools and even a Corrections officer's shirt. Now he's bringing home drugs. (Video first published April 2021)

A Corrections officer’s shirt, ladies swimsuits, entire washing lines with pegs attached, the local tradie’s steel-toed boots, bras, shoes and live eels. You name it, Keith the kleptomaniac has probably pinched it.

In the small hours of the morning, Keith, a five-year-old black cat, roams his quiet street in suburban Christchurch, committing burglary after burglary and lavishing his owners, Ginny and David Rumbold, with elaborate gifts.

Keith the thief, with some of his ill-gotten gains.

So bad is his recidivist offending, the couple have had to put two plastic containers at the front gate of their Hoon Hay property with Keith’s ill-gotten gains, complete with apology note, so that locals can reclaim their possessions.

On any given night Keith drags home up to six goodies. Some are so big he can’t get them through the cat door, so he dumps them on the deck or the driveway.

The local tradie even put weights in his shoes to thwart Keith, but he still dragged them home.

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Ginny and David Rumbold adore Keith, even when he embarrasses them by bringing home a Correction officer’s shirt.

The offending began when the feline felon lived with his old owner just a few doors down. It ramped up about three years ago, not long before Keith had a fallout with his sisters and decided he would rather live with Ginny.

Ginny would wake up to bras, whole washing lines with clothes and pegs, a large net curtain off a ranch slider door, pairs of Adidas or Nike shoes, underwear and tools strewn across her driveway.

Some items would return again and again – Keith took particular liking to a local tradie’s steel-toed boots. Not one to do things by half, he would drag one shoe home before returning for the second.

So fed up was the builder that he put 2.5-kilogram weights inside each boot, to no avail. Keith still managed to drag the boots home between his front legs.

In winter, Ginny Rumbold puts out a box of Keith’s loot so that residents can pick up what they are missing. In summer his haul fills two boxes.

When he wasn’t taking the tradie’s boots, Keith was stealing the man’s underwear and once took an entire load of washing off his clothes horse.

Keith on his way out the door, probably to commit his next burglary.

The local roofer has had his sealant gun nicked but by far the most embarrassing gift Ginny received was a Corrections officer’s shirt, underscoring Keith’s flagrant disregard for law and order.

Of late, Ginny has woken to slimy live eels on the plush red rug in her lounge after Keith apparently branched out to fishing in the nearby Heathcote River. She revived them by bathing them in the kitchen sink, before returning them to the river.

Bravely, Keith will enter houses through open windows or cat doors even if there is a dog inside. Only winter curbs his offending, when windows are mostly shut. Then, the Rumbolds only need one container at the front gate to hold his loot.

Sleeping all day to burgle all night, the past two days have been disappointing in the Rumbold household with only a black rag and pyjamas to show for Keith’s pilfering.

“I suggested to him diamonds and cash would be better, but that hasn’t happened so far,” Ginny said.

Luckily the neighbours think the feline reprobate’s antics are hilarious. Keith is known to most of the homeowners in the street who often see him padding his way to the bus stop with Ginny for a social outing.

After looking into his behaviour, Ginny believes Keith may have some Burmese genes – a breed that has been known to get bored easily and to seek out mischief.

“He’s just got the cheek of old Joe.”

Orana Wildlife Park engagement and IT manager Toby Johnson believed cats sometimes stole items to get attention, seeing the owner's engagement with them, be it good or bad, as a reward.

“They quickly learn this is a great way to please my owner despite the fact we are not pleased.”

Playfulness was another reason for the thefts as cats were smart animals wired for visual engagement, he said.

Being posed a challenge could also motivate cats to steal, particularly if it’s made more difficult for them.

Johnson had a similar experience to Ginny when his own cat stole goldfish from his neighbour’s pond. The cat would bring him the goldfish, live and intact, which led to him keeping a bucket of water on stand-by to put them in before giving them back.

He said the biggest risk Keith’s predilection posed was exposure to disease from stray cats while he was roaming the streets as well as the risk of injury from traffic.

The wildlife park was lending expertise to the Safe Cat, Safe Wildlife campaign to help cat owners keep their felines safe at home and out of harm, he said.