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Three teenagers kicked in a front door and busted up furniture while looking for cash before threatening to kill a 21-year-old man in a brazen daylight Auckland home invasion.

The trio, armed with a hammer, pinned the sole resident against a wall and threatened to kill him, at his West Auckland home.

The victim told the Herald he woke on Saturday morning to the three teens standing over him demanding cash.

 “[The teen with the hammer] kept yelling at me ‘where’s your money, where’s your money’,” the victim said. “I was still half asleep. I had got up to watch the All Blacks and went back to bed about 9.30am. An hour later I wake up to that.”

The front door was kicked in for access to the Kelston home. Photo / Supplied

The victim, who has lived in the Kelston home for 10 years with his parents and brother, did not hear the group breaking in.

“I didn’t hear them because I was sleeping and had my earphones on,” the victim said.

The victim said he was “freaking out” because of the danger posed by the teen armed with a hammer.

 “They said ‘if you tell the police, we will come back and kill you’.

“I was shocked by what they were saying. I was trying to plan what to do.”

The teens ransacked the lounge pulling out anything and everything, before finding the young man in his bedroom.

“They looked pretty young ... I was the only one home. Mum, Dad and my brother were out. Yes I was frightened,” the victim said. “They told me to stay where I was and held the hammer at me. I was shocked and stayed still. They kept asking me ‘you got money aye. You are rich’. I said ‘no, I’m the same as you guys’ and they kept saying ‘G you got money’.”

The victim, who the Herald has agreed not to name, said the leader of the group noticed he had a phone and grabbed it.

“He told me to put in my password. I grabbed my phone back and looked at him and his face for about five seconds. Then they all started backing away and just took off up the road.”

The trio ransacked the lounge before finding the young man in his bedroom. Photo / Supplied

The incident lasted 15 minutes but the victim said it felt like it was all in slow motion. He said he has given descriptions to police of the offenders.

“I called police,” the victim said. “I didn’t know who they were and had never seen them before.”

The victim’s mother and father were shocked by what appeared to be an opportunistic attack. They said they were hard-working people, like most others in the neighbourhood.

“We have been here for 10 years and nothing like this has happened,” the mother said.

On Sunday, police went door-to-door in the street seeking information or CCTV footage of the incident. Forensic teams also went through the home taking fingerprints from drawers and doors touched by the intruders.

A neighbour told the Herald the family had been told to stay elsewhere for a few days as police feared the teens might return.

“We also heard that police might know the identity of the trio.”

Police would not discuss details of the case.

“Police investigations into this case remain ongoing,” a spokesperson said. “This incident remains under police investigation and at this stage we are unable to comment on this.”

Another neighbour told the Herald: “We have also had a car broken into last week so keep things locked up and if you go out at night leave a light on and perhaps a radio on.”

Joseph Los’e, award winning journalist, joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for 12 years for Whānau Waipareira.