Heartless thieves have stripped a grieving mother of a trailer that reminded her of her son Timmy O’Brien who was murdered four years ago.
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The O’Brien’s story is tragic. Timmy, who would have turned 17-years-old in January, was killed at the tender age of 14.
On January 5, 2013, Timmy tried to help his step-father Peter Williams who was being attacked by one of the two men now behind bars after being found guilty of murder.
Timmy, who insisted on accompanying him, became the person in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Ms O’Brien and Mr Williams, who have be trying to piece their life back together, have relied on a trailer, donated by a charity after Timmy’s death, for work. Mr Williams, who was training Timmy to take over his mowing business, said his step-son loved gardening.
“The trailer reminded us of Timmy. He always motivated me to work and now I say I won’t stop working until I drop, because that’s what Timmy would’ve wanted,” Mr Williams said.
Ms O’Brien said the theft of the trailer was reflective of the perception of rising spate of crime in Smythesdale.
Moorabool Inspector Brendan McCrory said the community must band together to harden against a transient population of criminals who were targeting rural populations and travelling from the outskirts of Melbourne to Ballarat, Geelong and surrounding towns.
“We are seeing that creep of crime (from the city) – but it is not out of control,” Inspector McCrory said.
Community crime forums held in Daylesford, Creswick, Bannockburn and Ballan will be extended to other areas in the policing area. Inspector McCrory said it remained vital that residents were informed of the best ways to “victim harden” and ensure they knew to call triple-0 and report suspicious activity.
“We need to educate the community that calling triple-0 is the only way to get police. We need to make them aware of the use of CrimeStoppers and know which services to use,” Inspector McCrory said.
“We need to make people aware that if they make it harder for a crook they will look elsewhere.”
Inspector McCrory said he tried to task police through the region 16 hours a day and used data to determine resources.