Customers rally to recover stolen charity box

Renee Pilcher

WATCH out would be thieves - Good Samaritans are on the lookout, waiting for the chance to right some wrongs.

At about midday on Saturday, a juvenile who stole a Wildlife Warriors charity box from News Express Gympie was chased down Mary Street by two customers.

They both wish to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation but were more than happy to tell The Gympie Times why they put themselves in harm's way to recover the charity box.

The first was standing a few cars down from News Express when he saw a teenager running out of the newsagentcy and down the street with the donation box.

He said he thought it was suspicious so he ran into the store and the shop assistant told him what had happened; he then just took off in pursuit.

“Why not, that's what you are supposed to do,” our modest hero said.

“Not enough people get in and help; if more people did we'd have a better town.”

He was able to catch the teen and take him back to the store.

The second Good Samaritan saw the teen running and another man in pursuit, yelled out “do you need a hand” and was off chasing the thief.

The teen threw the donation box under a car, which he recovered.

News Express Gympie manager Warrick Hosking said he had been behind the Wildlife Warriors charity since Steve Irwin tragically died in 2006 and thought it was a worthwhile cause.

He was glad the money was recovered and will take the donations down Australia Zoo on Thursday.

“It's the first time this has happened. It's stealing off a charity, money that was donated by customers,” he said.

About the teen that stole the donations he said: “They are the type of people we don't need in town.”

He said his shop assistant was fairly shaken up by the ordeal.

“We need some more discipline around town,” he said.

Mr Hosking said a few bad eggs had given Gympie's youth a bad name and believed the culprits of these sorts of crimes needed to be named and shamed.

He said he was also sick of teenagers riding bikes and skateboards down the main street and putting people's lives in danger.

Police arrested a male, 17, after the incident and have charged him with stealing.