Mum's heartbreaking letter to 'callous' couple who targeted son, 14, in wheelchair
A mother has written a heartbreaking open letter to a couple who allegedly stole her 14-year-old son’s wallet.
Heike Fabig explained on Facebook her son, Bodhi, was outside the Mandarin Centre in Sydney’s Lower North Shore suburb of Chatswood on Thursday when his wallet and water bottle fell from his bag on the side of his wheelchair.
“Bodhi is learning independent train travel and shopping,” Ms Fabig wrote.
“Today, Bodhi also learned that some people are really quite nasty.”
A young couple stopped and picked up Bodhi’s drink bottle and put it back in the bag, but they walked off with Bodhi’s blue wallet, Ms Fabig said.
“I do not know how people can be so callous as to steal from a child, but folks, you are welcome to the wallet. All the cards on it have been blocked. The keys to our house have been changed,” she continued.
“The one thing we would really like to get back is the student card that was in the wallet. This has been a monumentally difficult and important year at school for Bodhi – who is really quite upset at having lost it.”
Ms Fabig told Yahoo News Australia the wallet also contained Bodhi’s Opal card and a debit card, which never had more than $30 on it.
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The student card was the most valuable thing in the wallet to Bodhi.
“It’s important because I got an honour badge [this year at school],” Bodhi told Yahoo News Australia.
“And I like keeping my student cards.”
Bodhi received an honour badge at school for accumulating many merit points throughout the school year.
Ms Fabig told Yahoo News Australia it had been a difficult year for the 14-year-old, but despite the challenges, there was a lot for him to be proud of.
While he will get a new student card when he enters Year 9 next year, Bodhi had plans to hold on to the one for 2020 and keep it in a box he bought.
“He's planning to put all his student cards in there and have a bit of a collection so that one day, he can look back on the years,” Ms Fabig told Yahoo News Australia.
“It's (2020) gonna be one of the most important years really.”
Losing the student card which meant so much to Bodhi is what hurt him the most, Ms Fabig said, which is why she was compelled to share her open letter on Facebook.
She understood the police had a lot on their plate, but she did report the incident as what the couple allegedly did was theft.
However, Ms Fabig is hoping by putting the message out on Facebook, the couple who allegedly stole Bodhi’s wallet would put the student card in a plain envelope and send it back to the school.
After making the post, many people have reached out to Ms Fabig, offering to buy Bodhi a new wallet.
“People have been really really sweet,” she said.
“So it hasn't shaken his (Bodhi’s) faith in humanity really but, yeah, if he got that card back that would probably make his Christmas.”
Yahoo News Australia has contacted NSW Police about the incident.
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