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The break-in and raucous fight that followed were caught on video. After the third break-in, Bonyai installed a state-of-the art surveillance system.

The video first shows the home invader lurking around the neighbourhood. Then he appears on Bonyai’s front porch. He knocks on the door and tries the locked handle.

A few minutes later, the intruder pokes his head through the back door into the kitchen, looks around then steps inside. He notices a money jar sitting on a shelf and heads straight for it.

Bonyai says he was sleeping on the couch a couple metres away. He normally gets up around 2 p.m. to pick up his kids. He was still in a “dozey mode,” but heard the door open. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught some movement in the kitchen. Then he heard footsteps. He glanced at the security camera screen set up next to his TV in the living room.

“That’s when I saw him in the kitchen, walking through the kitchen right straight to my money jar,” said Bonyai.

“This being my fourth home invasion, I was pretty pissed off.”

He looked around to make sure the intruder was alone.

“As soon as I realized it was just one, that’s when I figured, ‘OK, just tackle him, get him to the ground and then hold him until the cops come,’” said Bonyai.

He jumped up, bolted into the other room and jumped on the guy. It was a hard tackle that sent both of them tumbling out of the kitchen, down the hallway and into the front foyer.

“I didn’t want him going out the back,” said Bonyai. “I wanted him out the front where I know there’s people. The last guy that I chased, he went out the back, so now I’m out in the alley and I’m by myself. So this time I figured he’s going out the front.”