A Bunbury pensioner was the victim of a home invasion on Sunday June 6 and now lives in fear that the intruders will return.
A retired nurse who lives alone, the woman first noticed intruders on her property at 6.30pm and immediately called Police. The Police switchboard advised her that all available units were busy, but there would be a response when officers became available.
The woman called Police again a few minutes later when she heard the intruders enter her house. She then barricaded herself in a room as best she could to await the arrival of Police.
“I was petrified. I thought they might kill me” the woman said. She is currently receiving treatment for cancer and is in a frail condition.
At 3.40am, more than nine hours after the woman first called, Police finally arrived and inspected the property. The intruders had left after taking the keys to the woman’s car.
The householder was uninjured during the incident, but found the experience extremely frightening and distressing. “I could hear the intruders in the house and I could only pray that Police would come” the woman told Podport. “And my house is less than 2 kilometers from the Bunbury Police Station, as the crow flies. I don’t understand why it took so long.”
Police have recently boasted of a drop in violent incidents in the Bunbury CBD, due to an increased Police presence in the area.
The Bunbury Mail reported on August 22 that this was achieved by manipulating the Police roster, not by introducing additional Police resources. But the improved conditions for commercial interests and tourism in the City seem to have come at a high cost to other more vulnerable members of the community.
Police offered the woman no apology or explanation for the delay following the incident, nor was any follow up investigation carried out by detectives to identify the intruders.