It was bad enough when Deborah McDonald found herself up to her neck in water in her cabin after the heavy flooding in the Cowichan Valley a few weeks ago.
But shortly after McDonald was ordered to evacuate her home on Westholme Road, along with about 20 other residences in that area that were flooded, her cabin was broken into while she was staying with friends, and a number of personal and valuable items were stolen before her home was trashed by the intruder.
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And to add insult to injury, the thief, who is known to McDonald, has been texting her cellphone and taunting her about what he had done.
“I’m devastated,” she said while holding back tears.
“Not only did I lose a lot of things valuable to me in the break-in, my home and everything I own has been heavily damaged in the flood and my car is still underwater. All I have to my name right now is what I’m wearing on my back.”
McDonald said the thief once stayed with her temporarily when he was down on his luck, but he took advantage of the situation and began to abuse her trust, so she told him to leave.
She said the thief first broke into the main house on the property and took pillows and blankets before breaking into her cabin apparently to spend the night while he rummaged through the cabin for valuables and “kicked the crap out of everything.”
McDonald said a very expensive sterling silver hatchet, that was made for her by her fireman son who was killed on the job 10 years ago, was stolen, as well as about $1,000 worth of silver rings.
“There’s lots of other stuff missing as well, but I have to determine exactly what,” she said.
“I’m petrified all the time and I’m walking in limbo right now. I really don’t deserve any of this.”
McDonald said police were called and have started an investigation into the break-in.