A Campbell River woman who is the victim of recurring vandalism at her property has installed a new security camera with support from the community.
Sian Thomson, who lives with her daughter, Emma, near the northern edge of the city, believes she is being targeted after her truck has been repeatedly vandalized overnight while parked outside her home.
On June 18, Thomson noticed the gas cap to her vehicle on her lawn. This made her recollect how her vehicle’s fuel level had been inexplicably low for weeks, despite refueling it.
“The penny dropped — someone had been siphoning gas from my truck,” said Thomson.
Realizing this, Thomson taped the vehicle’s gas tank door closed and parked the truck with the gas tank facing her home to make it less accessible.
The next day, she found her driver’s side tire slashed.
“He slashed it with a big knife — not just a little poke,” said Thomson. “He was mad.”
The destruction continued from there.
Thomson found two more of her tires slashed the following morning. Then the day after that, the last tire was found deflated and sugar around the opening to the gas tank — indicating the vandal may have been attempting to ruin the vehicle’s engine.
“My truck is useless now,” she said.
Campbell River RCMP told Thomson, a former RCMP member in Alberta, it would be difficult to help without video surveillance evidence, she said.
“They don’t have the manpower to sit out here in their vehicles all night — and with all the vandalism all around town, they’re going to be out,” she said.
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Thomson believes she is being targeted, as none of her neighbours have been affected, but does not know why.
“I don’t have any enemies.”
These events have disturbed Thomson and her daughter.
“It’s concerning because now he’s gotten all my four tires and my gas tank — what’s he going to do next?” she said. “I’m scared for our safety at night.”
Thankfully, members of the community have come to Thomson’s aid through a GoFundMe campaign a friend started to help her install a security system with video cameras at her residence and for truck repairs.
“I don’t know if we’re out of the woods yet, but as soon as I bought it and walked out of the store, I felt so much more relieved,” she said.
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