A Bay of Plenty jeweller whose two stores have been targeted by thieves nine times in two-and-a-half years says he and his wife are “just shells” now, as their life’s work goes “down the gurgler”.

He says they have received “very little” reparation through the justice system.

Rotorua Jewellers was targeted in a ram raid early this morning, which “shell-shocked” co-owner Rod Pearce watched happen on his security camera.

“I watched people run around in my shop at bloody 4.30 in the morning,” he says.

“Cabinets smashed … they’re in for 48 seconds.”

Rod and his wife Jannine Pearce own Te Puke Jewellers and Rotorua Jewellers.

After an attempted break-in at their Te Puke store in June 2023 they told the Rotorua Daily Post that crime had cost them more than $200,000 and their sense of safety.

Today, Rod says it appeared youths had ram-raided the Rotorua store and had caused “a massive amount of damage” to the front of the shop.

He says a fog cannon, protective film on the front glass, and a roller grill were installed at the beginning of 2023, after receiving funding through the Government’s Small Retailer Crime Prevention Fund.

Rod says the roller grill “was destroyed when the car drove through it”. The protective film “worked” as the glass did not break and fall out and “the smoke cannon did its job”.

“They slowed it down fractionally. The smoke cannon - it confused them.”

The damage would have been “a lot worse” without those measures, he says.

Rod says it was the ninth break-in in two-and-a-half years between their two stores, which was “horrific”.

Rotorua Jewellers owners Rod and Jannine Pearce after a 2022 ram raid. Photo / Andrew Warner.

He says he believed the police had caught “just about every single person” involved in the crimes.

“But,” he says, “the justice system is a joke. They just get out with no consequences, no reparation, nothing.”

Rod says the front of the shop would probably cost about $40,000 to fix.

“I don’t care, frankly, if these young people spend the rest of their lives paying the reparation to repair … not only for us as a business but for the building owners as well.

“It all costs money – a dollar’s a dollar. They need to earn, they need to know what a dollar costs and how hard it is to earn and how hard it is to pay back.

“We’re just normal people – we’re not rich people and it’s just what you work for just disappearing in front of your eyes.”

Rod says there had been so many break-ins “that insurance is pretty much a token gesture”.

“It’s ruining our businesses. We’re getting whittled away … We’re just shells now, it’s hard to cope.”

Rod says he could not say yet what was taken as the police and forensics were on-site and going through the procedures.

Rod says he expected the shop would be closed today.

“We’ve just got to react from one thing to the other – we’re just shell-shocked. We’ve just got to take it as it comes.

“Life’s work going down the gurgler.”

A police spokesman says they were notified of a ram raid at a commercial premises in Tutanekai St about 4.30am.

“A group is understood to have used a vehicle to gain entry and left the scene in the vehicle prior to police arriving.

“A scene examination will be conducted at the property and inquiries are ongoing to identify and locate those involved, as well as the vehicle involved,” he says.

Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.