Residents of Wee Waa are breathing a sigh of relief as two thieves, believed to be responsible for a series of thefts and break-ins over recent weeks, were arrested last Monday.
Anglican Reverend Bernard Gabbott is especially grateful for the capture of the culprits, who robbed and ransacked both the church and the vicarage twice within three weeks.
He believes the town’s spirits have been lifted by the successful efforts of police to put a stop to the crime spate.
“In the context of a drought and a lot of people already doing it tough, to have something like this happen has certainly put the town on edge, it’s been unfortunate, but since the arrests I’ve noticed people are a bit more relaxed,” he said.
“It’s a reminder that we live in a pretty broken world, but we’ve been really blessed by the police, in the space of a week to have that turn around from the Brown’s burglary, they just worked so hard.”
Reverend Gabbott described the devastation and fear his family had felt after being robbed twice.
“The first time we were on holidays, when we got home we discovered they’d made a mess of the church office, gotten into the safe and stolen at least one week’s offertory, which was about $500 dollars and then close to $1000 from the house,” he said.
The second attack occurred while the Reverend’s wife Anita and their children were inside the house.
A strange noise alerted Mrs Gabbott to the fact that there was someone in the kitchen, and her son Seth witnessed the intruder who promptly made off with his mother’s handbag.
“I was out jogging… when I got back from the run, the family was pretty upset,” the Reverend said.
They later discovered the church had also been broken into again, although on this occasion three week’s offertory was stolen, about $1400.
The Catholic Church was also robbed and ransacked during this 24 hour period.
The thefts were a significant setback for the churches, which rely on
offertory to pay bills and staff.
“We think we’re covered by insurance but it’s certainly shaken the family up and people were quite upset that the church was targeted as well,” Reverend Gabbott explained.
“The police have been terrific they’ve encouraged us to do certain things around the house, without going so far as to put bars on the windows of the house and the church, but we’ve done the best we can in terms of security.”