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WHAT A WEEKEND! Relay for Life - Pages 4-5, Berwick Show - Pages 28-31, Tigers v Hawks - Pages 24-25, SPORT Wednesday, 2 March 2016
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Fairies doing their bit By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM EMOTIONS ran high as over 1000 people gathered at Toomuc Reserve for the Relay for Life over the weekend, but for the Cancer Busting Fairies, this year was particularly special. Their captain, Kerry Holland, was recently diagnosed with leukaemia. The team carried a “mini Kerry” doll attached to a backpack with them throughout the night, and sold raffle tickets and lollies to boost their fund-raising. At the closing ceremony, committee chairperson John Henzen announced that the fairies had raised an astonishing $7414.55 to be donated to the Cancer Council - the third highest team fundraising total.
The Cancer Busting Fairies hard at work at the Relay for Life. 149995
Picture: ROB CAREW
For the story and more pictures from the 18-hour event, turn to pages four and five.
Car theft drama By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM A 20-YEAR-OLD Beaconsfield man has told of his encounter with a brazen thief, who stole his car from the family home in broad daylight. The man, who spoke to the Pakenham Gazette on the condition of anonymity, said the keys to his blue 2004 Ford Falcon went missing at an Officer house party on Saturday 13 February. Thinking they had been misplaced, police were not informed of the disappearance and the man continued to drive using a spare key. But almost two weeks later, a thief claiming to have bought the car on Gumtree came to his house and drove it away. The carpentry apprentice was in the shower in the afternoon of Thursday 25 February when his mother raised the alarm.
“Mum came and opened the door and said someone was driving off in your car,” he said. “She was pretty adamant about it, so I ran out the front in a towel and my car was at the end of the street.” After briefly returning inside to get dressed, he ran towards his car, which was parked at the end of the street. “He was fiddling with the radio, and I approached him and said ‘what the **** are you doing?’ “He looked at me all shocked and then took off left out of the street.” In the meantime, his mother had reversed her own car out of the driveway. The startled young man got into the car, and the two decided to turn right at the end of the street in anticipation of cutting off the car around the corner.
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Their plan worked, and they managed to position their car across the road to block the apparent thief from passing. “Mum pulled out in front of him, and I quickly ran over to the car,” he explained. “He looked a bit overwhelmed and he just kept saying ‘this is my car, I bought this car.’” The man’s mother took the key out of the car and waved down a passing motorist to call the police. To their surprise, the thief made no attempt to run from the scene but instead started making phone calls to his father. He was adamant that the car was his, and was even happy to have his photo taken. But the owner of the car is sure that his story did not add up. “His story was a definite cover-up,” the victim said. “First he said that he was buying it off a
mate, then the story changed to the guy across the road, then a mate of a mate on Gumtree.” Pakenham police confirmed on Friday that the alleged offender is a 20-year-old man from Pakenham. Pakenham Senior Sergeant Graeme Stanley said police believed the alleged offender was at the same property on the night the keys went missing, however were still trying to establish why. “The owner did lose his keys at a friend’s house and although not confirmed, it is believed the keys were located at the same house by the alleged offender,” he said. “This part is a bit confusing because neither the victim nor the house owner is known to the alleged offender.” The man was interviewed and will receive a summons to appear at court on a later date.
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