A jury has found a Christchurch man guilty of more than 40 burglaries.

Robert William Northe​, a 32-year-old concrete worker from Bryndwr, was accused of 57 burglaries around Christchurch.

He was found guilty of 46 burglaries and not guilty of 11 burglaries at the Christchurch District Court on Monday. He is due to reappear for sentencing on November 26.

Northe originally faced 65 burglary charges when the trial began two weeks ago. He pleaded guilty to three charges on the first day and five other charges were later dropped.

The Crown's final witness, Inspector Darryl Sweeney, said police believed there was a "whole signature" around the burglaries.
He referred to the geography – all were within 2 kilometres of where Northe​ was living in 2017 – as well as associates, method of entry, and the nature of the stolen property.

Defence counsel Andrew McKenzie said the crown case was "built on assumptions" and urged jurors to beware of using evidence of his bad behaviour in the past to "fill in the gaps".
He also urged the jury to be wary of the chart of text message evidence used by the crown, because the texts were quite generic.

"They are suspicious, but suspicion isn't proof," he said.

Stuff
Tom Kitchin and David Clarkson
Photo JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF