Andersons Bay Cemetery has become a hotspot for the lowest form of crime ever conceived: snatching someone’s handbag from their car while they visit a grave.
The cemetery has experienced three occurrences of the ghoulish crime over just two weeks. Most recently, on 30 March local woman Sybil Kirkwood made the mistake of leaving her car unlocked while tending to the grave of her late husband. Upon returning to the vehicle, she discovered that her handbag was missing. It only dawned on her that it was stolen when she read a similar story in the esteemed ODT a day later.
Since the incident, police have been urging cemetery-goers to lock their cars properly. Critic notes that this ignores the possibility of a thief with balls smashing a window or taking the car itself. Meanwhile, Mrs Kirkwood is “appalled that someone would have such disrespect.”
Otago student Harriet Love, who lives opposite the cemetery, said of the incident: “Seriously, what the fuck?” This sentiment is shared by a large proportion of the student body and, if the ODT’s website is anything to go by, the general public.
Police Constable John Gilbert called the crime “one of the lowest acts” he has seen in his career. Police believe the thief is a local male who crawls between gravesites to access unlocked car doors. They are urging him to return the contents of the handbag with “no questions asked,” because, in Mrs Kirkwood’s words, her “whole daily life is in that bag.”
As for poor Mrs Kirkwood, she says the incident has not discouraged her from going back. Naturally, her message to the thief “probably wouldn’t be printable,” but she still wishes to make regular visits to her husband’s grave.
Cowardly bag snatcher adds to vast collection
