Man woken by ‘loud smash’ watches as burglary unfolds across the street

Saturday, 11 July 2026

A man visiting Christchurch witnessed an early morning burglary of a Sumner supermarket.

Police arrived at the scene quickly, the man who was staying nearby said.

Police confirmed they were alerted to the break in but were yet to locate the offenders.

A man has described the “terror” he felt when he was woken early on Saturday morning to witness a burglary just “50 metres” away.

Visiting from Wānaka, the man was staying opposite the FreshChoice Sumner supermarket on Nayland Street when a “loud smash” first alerted him to the break in at 5.30am.

“I looked across the street and saw three people going in and out of the FreshChoice bringing things to their car. They had broken the window of the shop,” he told Stuff.

“I had a lot of anxiety as I watched them. It was quite terrifying and not a nice feeling.”

He said he immediately called 111 as the burglary unfolded, with police arriving at the scene “pretty quickly”.

He said he tried to take video of the incident, but it was difficult while on the phone to police. Instead, he took a photo, which shows the car the trio were in, with the doors and boot wide open.

“Who knows what they were stealing. There is also a liquor store right next to where they smashed the window,” he said.

The burglars “left in a hurry” just before police arrived, he said.

Police confirmed they were alerted to the break in at 5.40am on Saturday, and the offenders had not been located or arrested “yet”.