A charismatic former New Plymouth mayor is harnessing the power of social media to hunt down two youths caught on camera breaking into one of his company vans.
Devon Hotel owner Peter Tennent posted the CCTV footage to his Facebook page this morning requesting the public's help to catch the pair.
"These young idiots deserve to be taken down," he told 3 News.
Last February three vandals were caught on the same cameras ripping fairy lights off the trees outside the hotel.
Police found them within 48 hours of Mr Tennent posting stills of the footage on his Facebook page.
The footage from 2am on Monday shows the male and female attempting to break into the van, which belongs to Mr Tennent’s catering company.
The man appears to try and force the door, before his female accomplice passes him a piece of wood that he uses to smash the front passenger window.
After breaking into the van and taking nothing, they went around the block and broke into another vehicle, again in front of cameras.
Mr Tennent said this sort of stupidity isn't the Taranaki way.
"But that doesn't stop me being grumpy and furious.
"I have no idea what they were trying to achieve. They're just idiots," he said.
He said a number of people had already contacted him with information about the vandals' identities.
"There's no doubt we'll catch them."
3 News
