APRIL
PAENGA-WHAWHA 2022
Car vandals strike EB
Rhyna Cottrell doesn’t usually park her car on the road. But it was early afternoon and she needed the space to do something in her garage. So the security-conscious Muritai resident, who has cameras “everywhere except her garage”, and uses a keypad to get into her house, couldn’t believe it when she discovered her passenger window had been smashed, in broad daylight, while she was out of earshot. Her neighbor, who was working on the street, heard the noise and found the broken glass. Amazingly, the car’s TomTom and camera, attached to the same multi-box as the stolen radar detector, had not been taken. The incident was caught on the neighbour’s camera, which shows the offender getting back into a waiting car before taking off. But Ms Cottrell says Police told her it’s very hard to catch such offenders; “they’re after quick money”. Ms Cottrell’s was the latest in a string of cars broken into in Eastbourne this month, mostly in streets close to the village. Many occurred in daylight hours and involved rear quarter-light windows, which are often more expensive to replace than larger ones, since they’re more specialized [check]. While Ms Cottrell’s car window is covered by her insurance policy, Totara St resident Gen Packer’s was not – replacing her quarterlight cost $310 and was “hugely inconvenient”. Like the other incidents – at least six we know of – it came at a cost, not just in money but time to get repairs done. The offenders left behind a bunch of face masks, a lot of glass shards and a broken glove box compartment – but took only $5 in coins. Stan Swan, one of several residents affected in Tuatoru St, says nothing was taken from his vehicle, and his car insurance “for which we’d wisely paid extra” covered the cost. He says in 33 years in the street they’ve had car windows broken three times and their garage burgled once. Like the others we spoke to, he thinks it’s time to raise the issue of cameras again.
United we stand
Anzac cousins Jacob Packer, from Sydney, and Amelie Freer from Rona Bay, inspect wreaths laid early on Anzac Day by local groups to honour the community's fallen.
The Eastbourne Herald was unable to get any information on the recent spate of car break ins from Police, who said the officer who could provide comment on the incidents was on leave.