A victim’s pain

A chap I know dropped into my office last week to see if there was anything I could do to help him. He didn’t think I would be able to help but I think he just wanted to vent anyway.

He told me that his place had been robbed and then about his experience with the Police since. Clearly this man was frustrated, bordering on bewilded, I’d say. He simply couldn’t believe that given the circumstances, the Police either couldn’t or wouldn’t do more to help him get his stolen goods back.

My purpose here is not to tell his story in great detail, nor is it to identify anyone involved, I simply want to draw attention to another “way of life” that we all now have to live with, one that people of my age and ilk find most dis-heartening.

This man had $50,000 worth of goods stolen from a shed on his property. Chance would have it that he was able to get a photo on his phone of the vehicle making off with the goods. Over the coming days he had various dealings with the Police, and this coupled with his own efforts, he was able to recover over $40,000 of the goods. Following all the information he was able to gather as a result of getting the rego number of the vehicle, he claims the perpetrator is known to Police and the location of the remaining goods is known, yet according to him, the Police have been reluctant to act. Of course, they claim to be working within the law and there are certain things they can do and others they can’t. The man is finding it very hard to understand how, with the evidence as plain as the nose on his face, the Police seem so hesitant to do what he feels, needs to be done. He has been through this nightmare, including having had several sleepless nights, and has been left so disenchanted by the whole experience, particularly by the actions of the Police.

Now I don’t to make any judgements or draw any conclusions, there’s always two or more sides to any story but I do think it’s fair to say that many people today would have stories where injustice has been the outcome, when justice should have been served. I was told by someone many years ago during a time when I was being victimised through the Supreme Court, “don’t expect justice”.  He was right, I survived but it had nothing to do with justice prevailing.

Still on justice and in the same vein, but a different situation, regular readers would be well aware of my problems with our phones over recent months. This nightmare has been ongoing now for over 6 months, it’s cost me thousands of dollars in unnecessary additional costs, hours on the phone, any amount of lost business and so on. It’s currently with the Telecommunications Ombudsman and it’s anybody’s guess whether the $1000 early termination fees I’m disputing will be waived or not. Speaking for myself only, I think we now have a situation where grinning and bearing the consequences of being screwed is the lesser of two evils. The price, financially and emotionally, just doesn’t seem to be the option that I want to take anymore, and that’s sad.

Getting back to the chap I mentioned at the beginning, no there’s not much I can do to help him, but I did say I’d write something about his experience, if for no other reason than to encourage him and prepare others should they find themselves in a similar situation.