A White Rock woman who paid a high price for “the stupidest thing” – leaving valuables in her unattended car – is hoping others can learn from her mistake.
Heather Hamilton said she also hopes that by telling her story, perhaps whoever smashed her passenger-side window and made off with all of her ID and a slew of confidential documents will have some sense of just how much damage one such act can do.
“The people that stole from me, they don’t know the impact,” Hamilton said of the break-in that occurred just after 5 p.m. Dec. 19 in South Surrey’s Windsor Square parking lot.
“Chances are, they’re better off than I am.”
Hamilton, 57, said she had parked at the 1959 152 St. mall for a quick meeting with her insurance agent at a nearby coffee shop on the night in question. Knowing she would only be a few minutes, she left everything in her Honda Accent – her purse and all of her ID, right down to her birth certificate, along with documentation of her separation, a severance package and the condo deal she was in the midst of closing. She had it all with her “because it was too important to be left alone,” she said.
“They got everything on me. They know where I live now, they know where I’m moving. Nobody knows as much as the person who broke into my car.”
According to Hamilton, the theft cost her many things, including the time and money to fix her car and replace her ID. It also meant she didn’t have a Christmas gift for her elderly mother, as a scarf she had been knitting for the senior was also taken in the break-in.
To top it off, Hamilton said the crime occurred just as she was seeing the fruits of efforts to rebuild her life.
“I basically started over when I was 50. I rebuilt my credit, I worked hard,” she said.
Hamilton said she put much time in the last three years into helping her son, who is on a disability pension. As well, she is living with multiple sclerosis.
Despite the bad luck, Hamilton said she is grateful the damage was isolated to material items, inconvenience and financial loss. She knows it could have been much worse.
“I wasn’t hurt. The stuff can be replaced,” she said.
But it is a lesson she hopes others will also learn from.
“It might be a pain to take your purse (with you), but just do it,” she said. “If it can happen to me in just a couple of minutes, it can happen to anyone.
“Just don’t be stupid.”
Anyone with information on Hamilton’s break-in may contact Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.
