A holidaymaker says he caught a group of young men "red-handed" defacing his neighbour's home in the holiday hotspot of Omaha. 

The man, who didn't want to be identified, told the Herald he and other neighbours witnessed a group of young men sneaking into the home late on Saturday night and called 111. 

"It's a small community here, with $5 million and upwards beach houses. At around 11.45pm a neighbour called to say he could hear voices at the house across the road, which is under reconstruction. We went outside the house and could see about eight or nine 'pissed' men on the site," the man said. 

The man called other neighbours in the street to surround the house to keep the men "contained" until the police were called. 

"We tried to stop them as they climbed over the security fences but they ran off in two different directions," the man said. 

The Herald understands that obscenities were sprayed in paint inside the property and vomit and urine were discovered at the home, which is being renovated. 

The owner of the property did not wish to comment to the Herald. 

The incident was reported on the Omaha Community Facebook page the following day, where some locals slammed the behaviour as "bloody disgusting". 

"These kids need castigating," one poster said. 

A mother of one of the young men allegedly involved told the Herald she didn't know the person responsible for the graffitiing, vomiting and urinating. 

"This incident has been blown out of proportion. The kids were completely irresponsible. I know it reads really badly but my husband and I have gone onto the site. It took my son four minutes to clean the chalk paint, he also scrubbed up the remnants of vomit- the builders said there was no damage whatsoever. 

"These are all respectful boys normally; it was just a stupid thing to do but it has seriously been blown out of proportion. My son is devastated but these boys have never had a brush with the law -they are really nice boys; we've known them for years – bar the boy who was responsible for the damage. They didn't break in, they wandered into an empty construction zone." 

The incident upset some locals in the holiday hotspot of Omaha. Photo / Greg Bowker 

Police wouldn't comment without getting clearance from the property owner. 

The mother, who wouldn't comment on the ages of the boys, said she had reached out to the owner of the house to apologise. 

"My son knows there will be repercussions for this – whether he labours on site for a week or two to show remorse, we are not parents who would ever say, 'we'll brush this under the carpet'. What has been disgusting to us are the keyboard warriors who don't know what sort of parents we are. We are hardworking, decent parents," the mother said. 

The neighbour who called police warned other homeowners to contact the police if they see suspicious activity. 

"Do something about it, don't just sit there. These little buggers put the whole community out with their bad behaviour. " 

- by Carolyne Meng-Yee, NZ Herald