Man tried to steal monkey as a birthday present for his girlfriend
Squirrel monkey injured and left traumatised by ordeal
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Your support makes all the difference.A man who broke into a zoo in New Zealand to steal a monkey has revealed that he intended to give the small primate to his girlfriend as a birthday present.
John Owen Casford made headlines around the world in April 2018, when he broke into Wellington Zoo in the dead of the night to snatch the squirrel monkey.
While attempting to jump over an electrified fence, he dropped the monkey and fell more than eight metres onto concrete, breaking his leg and knocking out his teeth in the process.
The monkey was injured and is said to have been left traumatised by the ordeal.
Casford was arrested the following day as he limped around town, his leg now in a cast, with his girlfriend on a shopping trip on her birthday.
He was jailed for the burglary as well as a string of previous violent offences.
The pair did not stay together after the break in, but he attempted to win her back by serenading her during an appearance on the TV show New Zealand Today following his release from prison.
Speaking to the show’s host Guy William, he opened up about why he broke into the zoo three years ago.
Casford, 23 at the time, had been on a date with his girlfriend at Wellington Zoo when the pair witnessed “something out of a movie”.
“This little monkey come up and stuck it’s little paw up on the window against her hand, like something out of a movie, and she said ‘oh my God, I want one of those’ and I thought, ‘F***, that’s what I’m gonna get her, I’m gonna get her that monkey’,” he told the host.
“Next thing I climbed in there and went and got it, two in the morning.
“I was too scared to stick my arm in there and reach around, so I lit the lighter, I seen his little eyes looking and grabbed it and shoved it in my bag and left.
“I make it to the fence and it’s all electrified at the top.”
He admitted being “high as a kite” at the time.
Panicking, he dropped the monkey and tried to jump – falling more than eight metres and “blowing all his teeth out”.
After being caught by police the following day, he was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison for the break-in alongside a series of other violent offences during a seventh-month crime spree.
As well as burglary of the zoo, Casford pleaded guilty to three charges of common assault, two of wilful damage, assault with intent to injure, injuring with intent to injure and a breach of community work.
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