Eric Satchell’s comments come as Australia Post prepares to reinstate postal services to the troubled area after a string of attacks on posties last year. 

The organisation was confident the situation had improved over the past 12 months.

Mr Satchell told the Daily Liberal he discovered the sliding door of his garage partly open when he pulled up the kitchen blind as he was having his morning cup of coffee about 7.15am yesterday.

“At first I wondered whether I’d left it up myself, but then I went outside and saw the side window smashed,” he said.

Gone were at least 10 power and other tools that would cost thousands of dollars to replace, Mr Satchell said.

He said given the quantity and type of items stolen, it would have been a major undertaking and probably involved more than one intruder.

“They must have climbed the fence because I have a chain on the gate that wasn’t touched,” he said.

“They took two saws, two drills and a spade, amongst other things. Every drawer had been rummaged through.

“I had a lot of my late father-in-law’s things in there and they were stolen as well.”

Mr Satchell said he saw a shopping trolley out on the road yesterday morning that could have been used to cart the goods away but he could not say whether it was the case.

The incident was another cruel blow for 68-year-old Mr Satchell whose wife Val is in care at Dubbo’s John Whittle House since suffering critical injuries when she was hit by a vehicle in the UK during a holiday to celebrate her 60th birthday in June 2007.

Mr Satchell, who lived in “one of the streets that wasn’t getting the mail”, said it was not the first time he had been targeted.

He described the neighbourhood as “diseased”.

“You hear a lot of crime happening around here but I can also say I’ve been targeted myself,” he said. 

Recently he was harassed in his front yard by a gang of around seven youths demanding money.

“When I said no, they surrounded me and shone a torch in my face,” he said.

About six weeks ago intruders attempted to break into his garage, ruining the lock, Mr Satchell said.

He said he had to wait for a locksmith to arrive before he could access his car in order to go and see his wife, who he visited most days.

“Then a couple of nights later I found about five of them in my backyard, they would have all been aged under 15,” he said.

The latest incident had been reported to the police.

Mr Satchell said he “used to be a bit of a handyman” but had not had occasion to use his tools as much since his wife’s accident. Despite this, he said, there were fond memories.

“Val was always shooing me out of the kitchen, saying ‘Eric, get out of the kitchen and make something’,” he said.

When the Daily Liberal spoke with Mr Satchell yesterday morning, he was waiting for officers to arrive so he could go and spend precious time with his wife.

“She has been in a locked-in syndrome ever since the accident so I go up there and sit with her, talk to her and read to her,” he said.

“An emotional part of her brain remains functioning, she can laugh and cry but can’t talk or eat or move.

“If we are watching a comedy on TV she will laugh, and like most ladies if I put on a sad movie she’ll cry.”

Mr Satchell was lost for words when asked what he would say to the intruders who stole from him.

“I fear they will never be any good to society,” he said.