'Despicable' thief filmed stealing charity collection tin from busy cafe
A brazen thief has been caught on security cameras stealing a charity collection tin from a busy café in Leichhardt.
In the centre of Bar Italia in Sydney’s inner west, a man casually looks at the menu, his jacket draped loosely over his arm.
He folds the menu over, pretending to read but instead his eyes scan the shop to make sure no-one is watching.
What he doesn’t realise is that his every move is being recorded on CCTV.
Less than 30 seconds later, the man emerges from the café but his jacket is no longer loose – it’s shaped like a box.
Hidden underneath the coat, police believe, is a tin collecting money for terminally ill children like six-year-old Ollie McPhail.
Ollie has muscular dystrophy, a hereditary condition that weakens and wastes away the muscles. It will kill him within 20 years.
Ollie’s mother Patricia said the theft was unacceptable.
"It's despicable and I think that it's really unfair for the whole Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy community,” she told 7 News.
"It's a 100 per cent fatal illness and I'm raising money by making clothes and accessories and relying heavily on donations."
The tin was raising funds for DMD charity group ‘Save Our Sons’, and has left the organisation’s leaders disappointed.
"To get a few dollars out of a charity box that's going to saving kids' lives is a pretty low act,” events manager Bass Abboud said.
The man appeared to be an expert on stealing, using the menu, then his backpack to cover the box.
Once at the counter, he decided not to order anything and left the store, unknowingly following a café staff member out the door.
Con Damouras said he had no idea what had just occurred.
"I'm very angry. I just don't understand how somebody could just do that,” he told 7 News.
"If I saw it, it wouldn't have been a nice picture, let me tell you."
Anyone who recognises the man is urged to call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.
