“SICK to the stomach” is how paraplegic motorist Karen Pereira feels after the theft of her specially modified Holden Commodore.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The North Albury resident had the 2000-01 gold VX SS model swiped from her driveway in Union Road near the Parkland Mity Mart between 8pm on Tuesday and 5.45am yesterday.
“We just got up this morning and the car’s gone,” Ms Pereira said.
“My partner has gone out to get the paper and he saw that it was missing.”
Ms Pereira, who uses a wheelchair, said the car had been modified to allow her to drive and those alterations should have been obvious to the thieves.
“I just feel sick to the stomach,” Ms Pereira said.
“I just don’t get why somebody would steal your car.
“It’s everything to me.
“Obviously to get into it they must have known it had hand controls and there is a spinner knob on the steering wheel.
“It’s not a normal car, the hand control would probably hit your knee.”
Ms Pereira became a paraplegic in 1988 after she was injured in a car crash.
She has feeling in her feet but is unable to walk.
Ms Periera uses the car, NSW registration number plate AQM-75J, to visit her adult children.
“It’s my complete independence,” the former wheelchair basketballer said.
Inspector David Cottee, of Albury police, confirmed officers were investigating the stolen car.
“The theft of any vehicle is not only inconvenient to the owner but also distressing,” Insp Cottee said.
“In this case it’s more distressing because of the owner’s condition and the reliance they placed on the car.”
It was not the only crime involving a car in north of Albury on Tuesday night.
Thieves broke into a black Commodore in a Wagga Road car yard in search of items to steal.