Crime not anonymous and impersonal, says carless family
Martine Bouillir and her daughter Grace are without a car and have had to pay for the stolen wreck to be retrieved from Haldane Road. Photo: Neil Wilson.
Martine Bouillir is a community-minded person. For example, she is the Golden Bay representative on the Nelson Restorative Justice board.
“It’s an alternative process to going through the court system, which as we know costs a fortune in time and money and often achieves nothing. With restorative justice the perpetrators have to go face-to-face with the people they have wronged – it’s personal and real,” said Martine.
Recent events have brought home to her the need for restorative justice and especially the need to consider the impact of crime on its victims.
Last Friday night some people went to Martine’s home in Motupipi Street, pushed her Subaru car, which had keys in the ignition, out on to the road and drove it away. They went to the site of shingle crusher at the end of Haldane Road and drove the car around at speed, causing damage, both to the site and to the car. Then they crashed the car through the side of a pile of shingle and trashed the vehicle, making it a write-off. Abandoning the car, the offenders took off with Martine’s keys and keyring.
Martine describes her reaction.
“I wasn’t even angry, just deeply disappointed as I looked at what was my car, stripped of the few bits that could have been of value - speakers, sound system, battery, petrol vouchers. And then just the senselessness of smashing in the front windscreen and tearing off the door panels– I might have just salvaged it if it had been left on the side of the road. Anyway, it was filthy and had obviously been thrashed – I don’t want it back now.”
Martine and her daughter Grace (9) are in no position to replace their car.
“One of the things that upsets me is that I’ve had to pay for the car to be retrieved from Haldane Road ,” said Martine. “I contacted The GB Weekly because I’d like to have a conversation with the people who did this. I’m assuming the people are young and somehow disconnected from our community. I want to talk to them – I want them to see that they have hurt real people in their community. I could be their mother, Grace could be their sister – how would they feel if someone did this to their mum? I admit that leaving the keys in my car made it easy, but I’ve been doing that for a long time and I’ve always felt safe until now. This kind of thing is rare in our community. I’m telling everyone about it so that it doesn’t become more common.”
Martine’s car will be wrecked now, as the offenders did so much damage to it. A kind person has lent Martine a car for a week but she and Grace are confronted by the prospect of going into winter without a vehicle. Martine would like to get her distinctive spiral keyring back too; it’s got her library card and Grace’s Richmond wave-pool card on it.
“Someone will know about what happened to my car,” said Martine. “I’m putting it out there to make it personal, so that it doesn’t become an anonymous event mentioned in the Police report and maybe settled in court over the Hill.”
Neil Wilson
