A VICTORIA Point woman has returned home from holiday to find her house ransacked and many of her priceless belongings stolen.
Janeene Hopkins returned home from a 10-day cruise to Vanuatu to make the heart wrenching discovery.
“When I came home, I found my bedroom ransacked, everything had been pulled out of my drawers and thrown around the place, even my underwear was scattered all over the place, and valuable items were missing,” she said.
“They even took my legal documents, including my marriage certificate out of my safe.
“It was terrible.”
Ms Hopkins, 69, who lives alone, estimates that the burglary saw items valued at about $20,000 stolen.
The stolen items included three diamond rings, including a man’s wedding ring, two Canon cameras and lenses, perfume, a pearl necklace and earrings, alcohol, two suitcases, a TV, a Samsung laptop, tools, and three drills with battery charger.
“I’m afraid to leave my house. I’m worried they’ll come back. I don’t have a car and depend on public transport for doctor’s appointments,” she said.
Ms Hopkins believes the thieves were not opportunists, as they returned to her house multiple times.
“They had more stuff ready in the hallway to come back and pick up,” she said.
“I found that they had been back three times, knocking on the door around midnight to see if anyone was home.”
She reported the incident to the police upon her return from holiday on February 22.
The recent burglary has significantly impacted Ms Hopkins’ sense of security in her own home.
Since the incident, she has changed all the locks to prevent further incidents.
Ms Hopkins desperately wants the SD cards returned from the stolen cameras.
She said they contained the last footage she had of her husband when he was alive.
State Member for Redlands Rebecca Young, herself the victim of a botched Victoria Point home invasion last year, said she had checked in on Ms Hopkins.
A QPS spokesperson said: “Police have received a complaint and investigations into this matter are ongoing.”
