A DUBBO woman is frustrated she will have to wear the cost of a new car window after it was smashed by children last week.
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When the Daily Liberal spoke to Judy yesterday, she said she had been unable to use her vehicle for several days while she waited for forensic officers to examine it.
In the meantime, she said, police had been provided with security camera footage from the McDonald's Cobra Street staff car park that showed several young children believed to have carried out last Tuesday night's break-in.
Judy told the Daily Liberal a staff member had seen some children on scooters in the car park just after 7.30pm, and the group took off over a fence, throwing their scooters ahead of them, when that staff member went outside.
Later, Judy discovered the rear driver's side window on her Toyota Corolla had been smashed.
"They ransacked the car and stole a $20 note and some coins from the glove box," Judy said.
"It looks as though they used a lump of wood to smash the window, because they left that behind.
"They'd pulled my bag out to climb in over the seats. Thankfully they didn't take that because it had all of my scrapbooking stuff in it and that is irreplaceable."
Judy said since the incident she had heard anecdotal reports of children attempting to break into cars in surrounding CBD streets that week.
"But mine was the only car in that area at the time and so it was the target," she said.
A spokesperson for Orana Local Area Command confirmed that security video had captured a group of three children on scooters in the area about the time of the break-in but the cameras had not been positioned in such a manner that could produce a shot of the car being broken into.
“The security video shows three young Aboriginal males on scooters in the area about 7.30pm that night,” he said.
“Police would like to speak with them as it is believed they could help with the investigation.”
Judy said the break-in had not only been a costly attack but one that had caused her a great deal of inconvenience.
“It’s not just the smashed window but the central locking has been broken as well - I hate to think what it’s going to cost,” she said.
“Plus I’ve had to shuffle around all my travelling arrangements to get around while I wait for police to come and examine the vehicle.”
But she said the most frustrating thing was that even if the perpetrators were caught, they would escape punishment by the law because they were young children.
“From what I understand, they would have been younger than 10,” Judy said.
“Where are their parents?”
Lowering the age of criminal responsibility was something Dubbo MP Troy Grant’s office told the Daily Liberal the MP had approached the NSW Attorney General about, with the latter “seeking advice” on the issue.
Judy said she had heard about recent funding for Dubbo City Council to install more security cameras in the city as a means to curb crime, but said that appeared pointless when even crystal clear security vision of children caught red handed committing a crime could not result in any kind of conviction.
“What’s the point of spending on cameras when the kids get away with it scot free?” she said.
“They leave a trail of destruction and we’re the ones who have to pay for it. I’ve been a widow for 25 years and paid for everything I have. Like so many others, I don’t need this extra expense.”
