Have a heart

A HEALESVILLE mother has pleaded with car thieves to “have a heart”.
Naomi Johnson was devastated when her son and his fiancée had their car stolen from the front of their rented property in Warburton on 15 July.
She attacked the thieves in an open letter to the Mail after seeing the young couple so distressed and disadvantaged by the selfishness of others
“Did you even stop to wonder about those it belonged to, or how hard both she and my son saved to buy and get the car on the road,” she wrote.
Scott, nearly 18, and his partner Brooke, 20, were looking forward to their engagement party and to getting ahead as a family, which includes Brooke’s two-year-old child.
Mrs Johnson said her son, an apprentice motorbike mechanic, and Brooke were strugglers who were working hard to get ahead and were devastated at the prospect of having to pay out hundreds of dollars they can’t afford.
The car, which is uninsured, was stolen from the front of their Warburton Highway unit between 6.40am and 7.30am. While it was later recovered at Mt Evelyn, it had mechanical damaged and had to be towed, a further expense. The child’s car seat, CDs, the car radio and other items in the car were gone.
“The thing that upset me most is the baby seat,” Scott told the Mail. “Why would you take something like that?”
Mrs Johnson holds little hope that the items stolen from the car will be returned, but feels that others may just think twice about stealing a car if they could see the impact it has on their victims.
“Brooke relied on the car to help out her mother, who is not well, by driving her brothers and sister around, and this is the sort of thing people just don’t give any thought to,” she said.
“Have a heart and return what isn’t yours,” she wrote in the letter.
It is believed the thieves may have stopped to put petrol in the stolen car, Blue VN Commodore, between Warburton and Mt Evelyn and that security footage may give a clue to the identity of the thieves.
Anyone with information can phone Mooroolbark police on 9725 9999 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.