Theft of irreplaceable items adds to stress

A GEEVESTON resident who evacuated his home during the bushfires says he has had his car damaged and irreplaceable personal possessions packed inside stolen when the vehicle was snatched from outside his sister’s house on the Eastern Shore.

Jeffrey Linnell, 63, said he was staying with his sister and brother-in-law at Bellerive at the height of the fires when he received a phone call from police last Saturday morning saying they had his car. The car had been stolen overnight.

Mr Linnell said the car’s bumper bar, bonnet, grill, headlights, and a wheel and tyre were all damaged, and everything inside had been trashed when the car was re- covered from bushland near Pass Rd at Mornington.

“I’m upset, pretty upset,” Mr Linnell said.

“You don’t think it will ever happen to you.”

Tasmania Police said four youths were charged after five vehicles were stolen on the Eastern Shore overnight between Friday, February 1, and Saturday, February 2.

One vehicle was destroyed by fire and one was damaged by fire. The rest were not burnt.

Police said the youths had been charged with numerous offences including unlawfully setting fire to a vehicle, motor vehicle stealing, and associated driving offences.

Mr Linnell said the damaged car and missing possessions would cost more than $2000 to replace, but items with sentimental value, such as family photos, were also lost.

His partner also lost priceless possessions.

“Some of her personal belongings that can never be replaced, they stole,” Mr Linnell said. “There was a big clock that her mother gave her just before she passed away.”

Mr Linnell said the incident added more stress to an already tense situation.

“We came up here not knowing how the house was going to be,” he said.

“We weren’t allowed back home, and then I get up Saturday morning and my car is gone. I was lucky, because they could have burnt that, too, then I would have had nothing.”

Mr Linnell said his house at Geeveston was OK.