A LANGWARRIN resident did a DIY car rescue early Tuesday morning (15 December) – and stopped a teenager stealing his car.
The Lois Ct man, in his late 30s, awoke to the sound of his 2010 Toyota Rav4 starting in the driveway about 1am and raced outside to see it about to drive off. He managed to wrench open the driver’s door and grab the mid-late teen, 183cm, of African appearance, and drag him out. The teen ran off.
It is believed there were three other thieves in the area at the time.
A reported 17 cars were stolen in Frankston last week, along with 47 thefts from motor cars in the same period.
Detective Senior Constable Chris Goudy, of Frankston CIU, said the Langwarrin case illustrated frequent aggravated break-ins: the offender entered via an unlocked back door and found the car keys on a hook near front door.
He said there had been three similar robberies “in the past couple of days” – possibly by the same offenders.
Another break-in was foiled in Coral St, Frankston, 2am, Wednesday, when an offender entered through an unlocked door and took car keys off a hook near the front door.
The resident awoke to the sound of his car starting and ran outside to see it about to drive off. The man managed to grab the keys and prevented it being stolen.
“There’s no real pattern to the robberies,” Detective Goudy said. “The thieves are opportunistic and take whatever they can find.
“They usually enter houses through unlocked doors and walk around looking for items without being seen.
“I have even heard of one case where offenders were in the bedroom of a house where even a German Shepherd dog was sleeping – and no one woke up.”
Police are appealing to residents to be more vigilant in protecting their cars, and possessions, from theft. “Most of the stolen cars were left unlocked,” Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Fyffe said.
“We’ll keep arresting offenders but it is frustrating that owners are making their keys accessible.”
1 Comment
Senior Sargent Fyffe I’d say the frustrating part is we keep allowing these type of migrants with this attitude into our country.