A Trail resident came home over the weekend to read in Monday’s edition of the Trail Times about a rash of break and enters and thefts from vehicles in her Laburnum Drive area.
What she didn’t realize at the time was that she was a victim herself.
“I noticed the curtains were funny on my way to work and that’s what made me come back and say there’s something wrong here,” said Erm Stevens. “I was shocked, just shocked.”
It turned out that her Great West camper van had been vandalized sometime over the weekend while Stevens was away on family matters.
Curtains and upholstery were slashed to pieces, shampoo poured on mirrors, cupboards emptied and the fire extinguisher set off throughout the interior.
The culprits even left the paring knife Stevens assumed was used to cut up seats, blankets and pillows stabbed into the side of the driver’s seat.
Stevens used the van the week prior, just pulled it from storage and insured it at the end of June. She’s never had a problem leaving the van in front of her apartment before, she said, and although an older model, the van was practically brand new and in very good condition.
It didn’t look like any structural or external damage had been done to the van, none of the more expensive interior parts, like the TV or fridge, were damaged and nothing was apparently stolen, according to Stevens.
But that’s almost what makes it worse.
“The point is they didn’t steal anything — my GPS was sitting right there — but they sure destroyed a lot and that’s an invasion of my privacy and I don’t appreciate it.”
Local RCMP are very concerned about the incident, even though they don’t believe that it’s linked to the other activities that took place over the weekend because it looks like this was just pure vandalism.
“Usually people that steal aren’t into the vandalizing too and what the motive for this would be I don’t know, it looks like just straight vandalism,” said Sgt. Rob Hawton, adding they don’t see a lot cases like these.
But both Hawton and Stevens question the motive behind the disturbing act.
“Why? What do they get out of it? To me, it just doesn’t make sense,” Stevens said with a sigh. “I was always taught to respect other’s property, you know?”
“It’s one of those things about human nature, sometimes there’s just no logic to it — it’s senseless right?” Hawton said. “We’ve got a victim here through no fault of her own, why would someone get pleasure from destroying someone else’s property? It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Hawton said the RCMP doesn’t have any suspects so far. Stevens insists her doors were locked but RCMP say one of them may have been left open, allowing the vandals to get inside.
Again, RCMP stress that residents should always lock their doors and remove all valuables from vehicles.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to call the detachment at 250-364-2566.