What’s going on in Morrinsville
Elderly residents of a Morrinsville retirement village have been the latest victims of a group of offenders who seem intent on leaving a trail of destruction behind them.
Public outcry on social media about a recent spate of crime in Morrinsville has done little to deter the offenders who in the most recent incident, slashed the tyres of five cars and one tyre of a mobility scooter at St Matthew’s retirement village. The tyres were so badly damaged, each of the 21 will have to be fully replaced.
Resident Ron Wearne said with insurance not an option for most of those affected because of the amount of excess they would have to pay, he didn’t have the words.
‘‘What I have to say would not be able to be printed,’’ he said.
‘‘This is disgusting. We barely get enough to survive as it is and now we have to pay for four new tyres.’’
What made it worse, Ron said, was that elderly people in the village rely heavily on their vehicles in case of medical emergencies and for a lot of them it was independence.
‘‘That’s the reality for us pensioners, we’re not getting any younger,’’ he said.
The damage to the mobility scooter was despicable and beyond belief, Ron said.
‘‘What sort of people go around doing these things to the elderly?’’
Burglaries from homes and cars, high speed chases through town, intentional damage of people’s property and a serious assault where a man was stabbed in the leg, have sergeant Vic Sneddon and Morrinsville Police staff run off their feet.
Morrinsville man Kerry Diamond, who appeared on the front page of the Piako Post last week, said he wanted his story out there to encourage people to say ‘‘enough is enough to this type of criminal activity in his home town.
‘‘It’s going from bad to worse. This is getting out of control,’’ he said.
‘‘To target the elderly is the lowest of the low, we should be looking after the older members of our community.’’
He encouraged people to become part of Morrinsville Community Patrol.
Matamata-Piako District councillor Paul Cronin has called for an urgent community meeting to be held, sooner rather than later.
He is hoping to have a time and a date confirmed as soon as possible.