NT Police investigating after 75yo Nightcliff man stripped and robbed while asleep in his home

Nightcliff resident John Murphy woke up early Tuesday morning to find he had been robbed and his pants removed.

IMAGINE waking up with no pants on and you’ve been robbed.

Nightcliff resident John Murphy woke up early Tuesday morning to find he had been robbed in his home while sleeping.

Mr Murphy said the first thing he noticed when he woke up at 3am was his shorts lying on the ground.

“Then I looked down and felt my money belt and I couldn’t feel anything inside,” Mr Murphy said.

Because of past traumas Mr Murphy keeps his valuables like money and banking cards in a bumbag that sits tightly around his waist between his underwear and pants.

“Normally I would take off the shorts and the money belt and put it underneath my mattress but that night I fell asleep in front of the TV and didn't do it,” he said.

“They opened the money belt, stole my cards and the cash.”

Mr Murphy did not wake up.

Thieved broke into John Murphy’s home and stole from the money belt around his waste while he was asleep. Picture: Floss Adams.

“I didn't hear a thing, I didn't even know a thing about it,” he said.

This is the third time the 75-year-old has been robbed in the last decade of periodically living Darwin. Mr Murphy was also assaulted on the two previous occasions.

“This is third time in a matter of 10 years,” he said. “That’s scary, it’s really freaking me out.”

NT Police Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Bland said investigations and inquiries into the incident were ongoing.

“I’m being very honest with you, I don’t want to come back here again, I was robbed in my house, how safe are you out?” Mr Murphy said.

In the year ending July 2021, there was a total of 396 house break-ins in Darwin – a 37 per cent decrease from the previous year’s figure of 636.