Callous thieves cripple community garden

Thieves broken into the PICAL offices over the weekend, stealing vital equipment needed for its community garden and food relief program.

After rallying to help feed the community on Friday in the wake of the destructive storms, the robbery is a massive blow for the community organisation.

Centre Manager Greg Thompson said the thieves broke in through a window in one of the training rooms. They then accessed the storage area where PICAL’s gardening and power tools are stored.

“The near new stolen Makita cordless tools are required to keep the community garden operating and the grounds maintained,” said Greg.

The theft will also impact on classes offered by PICAL and cripples the garden operations.

Greg described the community garden as a key part of PICAL’s food relief efforts, and the loss of tools will hinder its ability to “feed those in need in our community”.

The tools were purchased over the last year and a half through grants and donations.

“It could be weeks before insurance can be accessed and the tools replaced, to enable the garden to be functioning at full capacity,” Greg said.

The thieves only took items that could be carried, so police suspect they did not have a car.

“We believe that it was simply an opportunistic event – potentially by one of the groups of people hanging in the bus transit centre over the last two days,” he said.

The Boomerang Bags room was also broken into however nothing was stolen, supporting the theory that the thieves were on foot and did not take anything of significant weight.

The police have asked anyone who is approached or knows of anyone trying to sell off some almost brand-new Makita cordless power tools, to please contact Cowes Police station on 5952 2037 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.