MY FEAR INSIDE
A NEW victim of the rampant crime spree sweeping through Cairns was eating dinner just a few metres away when thieves crept into her home.
Manoora resident Stacey Reynolds (above) is left with a trashed car locked in a police impound yard, missing house keys and credit cards and a deep sense of being a prisoner in her own home.
She says she will spend her nights sleeping on a mattress pushed against the front door of her Macilwraith St home until the locks are changed.
Ms Reynolds was at the kitchen table with her cousin when she saw the lights of her Toyota RAV4 turn on about 9pm Monday.
“Unbeknown to me, they came into my house and taken my wallet and keys,” she said.
“I got out of my chair and jumped over the front window to chase them and the car almost hit me into another car parked on the driveway.”
Ms Reynolds said the car reversed about 50m down the road at high speed before spinning and racing out of view.
She notified police and alerted the public through a Facebook post, which was shared hundreds of times as the night wore on.
Her sister finally found the vehicle, abandoned and badly damaged with its windows rolled down on Olive St at Manoora. The car key was still on the seat, but the house keys were gone.
One of her credit cards had been used in an attempt to buy cigarettes from a Caltex service station on Reservoir Rd in Manoora.
The attendant, who had seen the post shared on Facebook, read the name on the card and refused to serve the alleged thief.
Ms Reynolds said the ordeal made her feel unsafe and violated.
“We work bloody hard for what we have and this happens to good people,” she said.
It is understood police have CCTV footage and are continuing investigations, but no arrests have yet been made.