UPDATE: Linda lost her “best friend”, independence and freedom over the weekend when heartless thieves stole her motorised scooter.
“It was 10 minutes to one on Saturday,” Linda recalls.
“I was planning to go to the cinema and have lunch with a friend and, yeah, I unlocked the screen door and sliding door – which is under the pergola at the side of my house – and, ‘woah, where’s the scooter? I’m sure I left it there; I always leave it there’.”
In an act, described as “despicable” by police, thieves entered the backyard of Linda’s Hilton Way, Melton West home sometime between 5.30pm on Friday and 12.30pm on Saturday before fleeing with Linda’s $4000 motorised scooter.
The 57-year-old, who has multiple sclerosis and needs her scooter for everyday activities, hoped someone was playing a dark joke at the time.
Four days on, her scooter has not been located and she’s pleading with the thieves to “do the right thing” and “bring it back”.
“Just please bring it back. Think about what you’re doing and what that means to that person,” she said.
“We don’t have wheelchairs or scooters because it’s fun to have one; we have one because that’s how we get around.”
Linda said the theft left her “absolutely gobsmacked” as well as housebound.
“I can’t get anywhere,” Linda says. “I’m stuck here; I can’t get out, do anything and my routine has just been shut over the weekend.”
“I hate asking for help and the scooter gave me independence.”
She said she felt “imprisoned” and felt stripped away from her independence and choice to make decisions.
“I feel like I’m a prisoner in this box. [Without the scooter], it’s going to be another long weekend being stuck at home and not having my freedom. Maybe I want to stay home for the weekend, but it would be nice to have that choice.”
Senior Constable Gareth Gutierrez said, in cases such as this, thieves usually took stolen scooters for a joyride before dumping them.
“This kind of theft is particularly despicable as the offenders have blatantly targeted this woman,” Senior Constable Gareth Gutierrez said. “People don’t just have motorised scooters lying around – to take that from someone is really low.”
The four-wheel blue Invacare Pegasus scooter has a Geelong Cats sticker on the front and had a blue and white umbrella, a battery charger, black rain cape, a walking stick and a purple woolen cape with a gold and purple-encrusted stone brooch attached to the cape on board.
Linda said a Shaun the Sheep and Geelong Cats bear hung off the rear-view mirrors.
Can you help?
Anyone with information is being urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
