By Afraa Kori
For the second time, Ian George’s car window has been shattered in Berwick, leaving him hoping it will be the last.
“I’ve got a second car, which was originally my wife’s car. When I came home, I noticed the rear window being smashed. It hasn’t collapsed in, and I thought it may have been a neighbour that flipped up a stone or something from a lawnmower. Later on when I had another look, I realised that the badge had actually been knocked off as well and I found that about a metre away from the car,” he said.
A smashed car is already a stressful and costly experience, but during the holiday season it feels like a double blow.
“I’m not angry, it’s inconvenient, and it’s the fact that I have to waste money on something you didn’t need to. Especially at this time of the year, I’m struggling and there’s no two ways about it,” Ian said.
“I’ve got two sons and four grandchildren that I was going to spend money on for Christmas. Now I’ve got to pay to get the rear glass fixed and have to get security cameras. I’m just tired of it, it’s actually not the first time I’ve had a car damaged out there. It always seems to happen at this time of the year, or at the end of school.”
Ian highlighted personal responsibility and collective action are key elements of change.
“How do I rebuild an empire? One brick at a time. When a house gets destroyed, people say we’re going to rebuild that house. It’s called ‘one brick at a time’ which is a theory I love.”
“That’s what we need to start doing as a society! We’ve got to start saying that these things are not acceptable anymore. It all starts at a local level . and if one person says no and another person says no, then eventually we build up a strength of many.
“As a society we need to say enough is enough, that’s the only way we can start to make changes. If there were two people who broke the window, then one of those people should have said ‘we shouldn’t do that’. I think we’ve got to a point where it’s time to speak up, we’ve got to stop hiding things and we’ve got to stop people from doing harm.”
Victoria Police have confirmed they are investigating an attempted vehicle theft, with an unknown offender gaining access to a car parked in a driveway on Messmate Court in Berwick between 10pm on 3 December and 4pm on 4 December.
Officers have reported that the alleged offender stole the victim’s employment identification and broke the vehicle’s rear window. While the car itself was not stolen, the investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with information, CCTV/dash cam footage or who witnessed the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or log onto www.crimestoppers.com.au
