'Disgusting' thieves steal Waihi man's wallet as he died

  • 25/10/2017
The incident occurred near Haszard St.
The incident occurred near Haszard St. Photo credit: Google Maps

A dying man had his wallet and phone stolen while he was suffering what proved to be a fatal heart attack in Waihi last week, according to reports.

The 60-year-old was given CPR after locals heard him revving his car non-stop on Wednesday last week, his foot pressed firmly on the accelerator.

The man was resuscitated and taken to a nearby park, where a rescue helicopter picked him up to take him to Waikato Hospital in a critical condition, but he later died.

Bystander Glenis Gentil told Fairfax that amongst all the chaos, a pair of opportunistic thieves took off with his wallet and phone.

A close friend of the man's family has since been in contact with Ms Gentil, and told her they are devastated at the thieves' actions. They said they had planned to use photos stored on the man's phone for his funeral on Tuesday.

Waihi's Senior Constable Scott Tyrrell says the alleged thieves were identified as a 25-year-old man and 23-year-old woman from Napier.

"This is pretty disgusting sort of behaviour. It was a pretty traumatic and chaotic scene - those there were doing vigorous CPR and did a brilliant job, they actually managed to revive the man," he told Fairfax.

"Then to discover they have taken the opportunity to swipe his wallet and cellphone is beyond belief really."

Police are still unsure what charges to lay, as they are unsure how much money was in the man's wallet at the time of the robbery. Snr Const Tyrrell says the man had just withdrawn cash from an ATM.

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