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 last week, 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.

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.

Pearce 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.

Pearce says it's the ninth break-in in two-and-a-half years between their two stores, which is “horrific”.

He said 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.”

Pearce says the front of the shop will 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.”

Pearce says there has 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.”