He’s been labelled as the ‘Grinch’ who stole a young Sydney girl’s Christmas but it seems that not unlike his Dr. Seuss namesake, a drunken reindeer thief has had a change of heart.
Last week, nine-year-old Chiara Velardi woke up to find two cherished reindeer ornaments had disappeared from the lawn of her family’s Middleton Grange home.
Footage from a security camera showed two merrymakers attempting to bundle the glowing animals into a parked car in the middle of the previous night.
Tragically, one the animals was irreparably damaged in the heist.
“You shouldn’t do that anymore and you should say sorry to my dad and my mum and me,” Chiara told 7 News on Friday.
Two friends of the thief happened to catch the nightly bulletin and the following evening came knocking on the Velardi's front door, armed with a handwritten apology on his behalf.
“To whoever’s Christmas I destroyed, I’m very sorry for taking your raindeer (sic). I was unaware of my actions due to being drunk,” the note read.
“Don’t feel like you shouldn’t put up any more lights because they were wonderful. I hope this letter makes you feel better. I’m so sorry once again I promise to never do this again. Please feel safe and have a nice Christmas!”
It also came attached to two $50 notes to cover the cost of the replacing the reindeer.
Chiara's father Roy accepted the apology of the anonymous robber and confirmed he will not take the matter any further.
“They were pretty genuine, they seemed genuine,” he told 7 News.
“I accepted the apology, I’m not going to take it any further. They apologised to my daughter too.”
Top Comments
I'm glad he apologised and tried to make amends, but I hope he realises that drunkenness is no excuse for theft and vandalism. Unless he was held down and forcibly injected with alcohol, he is unequivocally responsible for the series of poor choices that led to him breaking the law!
We have had Christmas light theft from our front yard as well! Our poor son was devastated. It's sad for the children, but hopefully won't keep happening. We'll keep putting our lights up!