A 68-year-old Cowes woman was awoken at 1.30am on Tuesday morning this week by the sound of a car door banging repeatedly.
Living close to the town’s main street, noises are a regular occurrence, but this was different.
“I wasn’t going to get up, but the banging noise continued, so I got up, didn’t turn on the lights and went to the front room where I could see out,” she said reliving the traumatic experience.
“I saw the front door of my car open, shut and then open again. I feared the worst.
“I could hear the sound of the horn beeping every now and then. They were obviously trying to steal the car, or steal something inside, so I called the police.
“I turned on all the lights but I didn’t want to be there in case they came inside looking for the keys. They might have had knives or something.”
Scared for her life, the woman escaped out the back door, through a back gate and over to the Phillip Island Health Hub which is open 24/7.
“She said come in and gave me a cup of tea. I sat down and waited for the police.”
A Cowes resident all her life, the woman called ‘Triple 0’ while she was still in the house, and was connected with police on duty by the emergency operator.
“I spoke to police who said they were sorry, but that they were the closest police on patrol, an hour away at Meeniyan.
“Is that it?, I thought. Haven't we had police here? Phillip Island is pretty busy these days. What if I’d been stabbed or something.”
When the police did arrive, the best part of an hour later, they reportedly found a heavily intoxicated and drugged woman, from Newhaven, asleep on the back seat of the car.
“The lights were on in the holiday house next door, so they’d broken in there as well. There was something broken on one of the windows and they’d removed the flywire.
“I can’t say if there was another person or two, but they’d made themselves a cup of coffee and left it neatly on the table in the house. That woman was so out of it, she couldn’t have made a cup of coffee like that.
“They had all my stuff pull out in the car, with keys laid out, and they’d broken of the stem on the steering column where you turn on the lights and that. It was a mess.
“They ultimately took her away in the ambulance. I don’t know if they charged her, but I’ll have to try and get her to pay for the damage caused.
“The lady over the road didn’t her it but she’s so petrified that she’s got the security people around today to put up security cameras.
“But it was pretty scary, for sure, not knowing if they were going to come into the house or not.”
The car, a Mitsubishi Triton ute, was in the driveway of the inner-town residential street.
The incident, said the Cowes woman, raised a lot of issues; the prevalence of drugs, alcohol abuse, the rise in the number of car thefts and aggravated break-ins, and a lack of police resources.
“It’s not the police’s fault. There clearly aren’t enough police rostered on in this area and it’s just not good enough for police to be an hour away from responding to incidents in Cowes.
“Phillip Island is too busy now not to have a permanent police presence. We need more resources.”
What police said
Victoria Police Media have issued the following statement:
“While the reception counter at Cowes Police Station is closed overnight, police are still providing a dedicated 24/7 response across the Bass Coast PSA.
“This includes divisional vans actively patrolling and responding to incidents overnight.
“At the time of this incident, police were attending other matters in Meeniyan and Mirboo North.
“Once available, officers attended a property in Cowes where it’s alleged a woman entered through an open window before later entering an unlocked vehicle on the same street.
“A 29-year-old Newhaven woman was arrested while allegedly still inside the vehicle and will be summonsed to court.”
Police confirmed that an arrest was made and that the alleged offender will be charged on summons.