Police in Tauranga have arrested the person who stole a woman’s purse and bankcards from her husband’s phone case while her husband suffered a medical event. 

The couple were driving down Te Awanui Drive in heavy traffic on Monday 27 November heading towards the Mount when the man suffered a medical event. 

Members of the public stopped and assisted until emergency services arrived and the man was taken to hospital. 

The woman, who was obviously distressed from the incident, was driven by a local Police officer to hospital to be with her husband. 

On the way to the hospital the woman discovered her purse was missing. When she returned to the vehicle later, she discovered that her husband’s bank cards had been removed from his phone case.

 Calls to her bank confirmed both the cards taken from her purse and her husband’s phone case had been used at various retail outlets in the area. 

A 40-year-old man, matching clothing of one of the people who had stopped to assist during the event, has been arrested and charged with theft and using a stolen card. 

He is due to appear in Tauranga District Court on Monday 11 December.

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