Burglars bound and gagged a Nuku‘alofa businessman, and violently assaulted him while robbing his home and business on Friday night, May 5.

Firitia Velt, the owner of Ta'uolunga Komipiuta, an Apple computer reseller and training centre, answered a knock on the door at about 9:15pm while he was at his home on Salote Road, Fasi mo e Afi.

Two men came into his home and one punched him in the face, threatening to kill him.

Kik who offers a computer repair service, said it was not unusual for customers to come looking for him at night, because he lives behind his business.

He described the men as, “two Tongan men, maybe around 30 years, unshaven, sturdy, not fat, not too tall."

"The first one directly punched me in my face and under my chin which started bleeding.

"They forced me on the ground, and while keeping their hands on my eyes and mouth so that I could not see and say anything, they started to wrap sellotape around my mouth, eyes, wrists, ankles and arms so I could no longer move, see or yell, while whispering: 'keep still, we kill you if you yell, do not move, we cut your throat!' and things like that," he said.

The men wanted the keys to his business and dragged him into another room. "Then they forced me to tell where the keys were, which, of course, was difficult for me to do, not able to speak. But anyway, they got them."

Kik told the police that one man went to the shop, while the other stayed in his home and continued to punch him in the face, breaking one of his teeth.

He said that the men knew how to switch off the burglar alarm when they entered his store. They opened his safe and stole cash, as well as taking small items of stock, such as computer accessories, worth a total of $4,337.

Kik said it took him some time to free himself from his bonds

Kik said the burglars could not take his laptop because that had been stolen earlier in the week. On May 1 he left his house door open while he went to lock up his business, and he came back to find his MacBook gone. The serial number was W8951EGH8PW.

Kik is an astronomer, who also works as a physics and science lecturer in Nuku‘alofa.

Firitia Velt