Thieves have slithered in to a home as a family slept inside, stealing their pet python

[Flaviemys purvisi]

SCOTT SAWYER, Townsville Bulletin
June 29, 2018



THIEVES have slithered in through a broken rear window and stolen a 2.5m coastal python from a home as a family slept inside.

The pet snake was stolen from a Cassowary Cres, Condon home overnight.

Sally Baker and her son, 12, and daughter, 10, were asleep while thieves ransacked their home in the early hours of Friday morning.

Ms Baker, who’d only been home a week as she recovered from heart failure, went to bed about 1am.

Thieves struck, breaking in through a bathroom window and then opening the front door.

She said they stole food from her cupboard and freezer, a large container of dog food, her week-old JVC television and her son’s backpack with Nintendo DS and games.

But what’s hurt most is the items stolen from her dead son’s cabinet and the theft of her pet 2.5m coastal python which she’d had for the past year.

“I honestly don’t know what to think,” Ms Baker said.

She said her first thought when she woke on Friday morning was “what the f***, where is my snake?”.

“I can replace a TV and food but I can’t replace my boy,” Ms Baker said.

She assumed they’d stolen the snake to sell and the theft followed a home invasion about a month ago during which her TV was smashed and table upturned.

After two-and-a-half years in the home, Friday’s theft was the final straw.

“We’re leaving after this,” she said.

“I’m going to go back out to the country.”

“We’re leaving after this,” she said.

“I’m going to go back out to the country.”

 

[dragonlover1]

sounds like a less than desirable neighbourhood

 

[AnthonyL]

Do hope the thief gets a nice tag!

 

[Stompsy]

sounds like a less than desirable neighbourhood

Unfortunately, most Townsville towns have this happen constantly. There’s many stories of baited dogs to gain entry to a premises. We had our place marked by those kinds of people but luckily our dogs were inside at night. I did have people go through my car when it was only days old though, but used to take my keys to bed with me (because of stories of break ins just to steal keys to the family car) and the marks on our door told us they were unable to break in with a crowbar. And it’s mostly kids. Teenagers roaming the streets at night. Hopefully she gets her snake back but I doubt she will.

 

[dragonlover1]

It's hard to imagine this stuff happening,where I live isn't the most salubrious suburb but we don't have problems like this.
Although I am a little hesitant to put my Lacies and Frillies outdoors.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

I remember as a kid living in Townsville back in the mid 80's we had an attempted break-in by some ah... "locals" in broad day light one morning... they entirely smashed a big bayfront window to gain access but before they could climb through into the house, our 3 German Shepherds went through the broken window after the offenders and had them pinned down in the middle of the street. "Witnesses" told the police that these blokes were simply walking past the house when the dogs smashed a window and chased them down and attacked them. The police later that day returned after taking statements from the offenders at hospital to destroy the 3 shepherd's and my dad was livid. The cops said we have witnesses who clearly saw your dogs jump through the window and chase those boys down the street and attack them... dad took the cops around to the smashed window and said "Yeah?? The dogs smashed the window by jumping through it to get out did they?? Then why's all the broken glass on the inside of the house all across the carpet? If the dogs broke the window to get out, wouldn't all the glass be out here on the ground??" Case closed. The dogs were spared and the boys got a stern warning from the cops.

The 17 years I lived in the Macleay valley, NSW, our house was never ever locked once. The front gate was permanently left open and the front and back doors were always unlocked. All that time we had the shepherd's (obviously not the same ones the entire time - but the next generation) no one ever attempted to trespass or break in. When we sold the place in 2003 to move back to QLD, we couldn't find the house keys anywhere, we'd never ever used them.. after entirely emptying the house completely we eventually located the keys, out the back in the meterbox, well tarnished from sitting there untouched for almost 2 decades. Lol

Here in Toowoomba I've had 2 attempted break-ins in the last 15 years... both attempts to gain entry were unsuccessful thanks to my land sharks (German shepherd's).

 

[Ropey]

My inlaws never locked the house and sheds for 40 to 50 years but have to now one of the big problem now is DHeads jump the fences and grab a young cattle and put them in the boot of the car which is most of the time is stolen with so much road frontage it is hard to stop the police say it's probably for a feed what is Australia coming to