Theft shows how low some people go
An elderly couple feel violated after people stole money from their garage sale, knowing it was intended for their deceased daughter’s disabled child.
Keith and Raewyn Watkins, both aged 71, of Okato, said although about $50 taken, it was the principle of the matter that left them fuming.
’’We just never thought anything sinister of it because that’s not the way we think,’’ Keith said of their ordeal.
Last week, the retired shop owners opened their internal garage doors to sell the belongings of their daughter, Donna MacDonald, on behalf of their granddaughter Jessie who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy. Jessie was living in a new care home with full-time carers and felt it was finally time to have a bit of a clear out of her mum’s things. It was hoped she could buy something nice for her New Plymouth home.
Raewyn said when two young women pulled up the driveway with a young girl aged around eight years old, they seemed really friendly. They had a look around and chatted for a while.
Now, almost lost for words, Raewyn recounted how one of the women complimented her lovely two-storey home and section out the back, before they purchased a ball for 10 cents and left.
‘‘When I told them who the sale was for and why we were doing it, one of them acted like she just couldn’t believe it, as if to say what a nice thing to do,’’ Raewyn said. ‘‘I had a curtain up screening the back, with the money behind it, and a table across to block that part off.
The long driveway that led to their house had a sensor alarm that sounded inside the house when pedestrians walk up. Raewyn felt at ease heading upstairs to have a quick cuppa with family friend Shirley Kemsley.
A few minutes later the alarm went off. ’’It was the passenger walking back down the driveway on foot,’’ Kemsley said.
‘‘We looked out and thought nothing of it. I presumed she may have changed her mind and wanted to buy something else, but then she’d turned back and thought better of it,’’ Raewyn said. ‘‘If it weren’t for the alarm we’d have been none the wiser they had even popped back.’’
When they finally did go back and realised the money was gone they simply couldn’t believe it.
Quite a few choice words were thrown about before the couple rang the police.