A family of five has been stranded thousands of kilometres from home with just their caravan, after three teenagers allegedly stole their car and torched it — but the local community has jumped in to help.
Marcus Jones and his family, from Victoria, have been holidaying in the Midwest town of Geraldton since December and were due to head home on the weekend.
Mr Jones said they made the journey west to visit friends of his partner Maddy, who lived in the town as a teenager.
They were alerted to the alleged theft by police, who were tracing the owners of some dumped belongings.
"I thought I better go check the ute and sure enough when I went outside the caravan, it [the ute] was gone," he said.
"About 10 minutes later police rocked up to ask some questions and returned all our equipment that was found."
Mr Jones said the alleged thieves dumped and destroyed a number of items in the car at Separation Point before taking off.
"We had three car seats and [they have] taken them out and cut all the straps, so we can no longer use them," he said.
"They dumped our pram down there, which has a bit of damage, and our beach wagon that we had for the kids.
"They pretty much stripped the car of everything valuable."
Mr Jones said he usually locked the caravan door at night, but that night he forgot after taking his son to the toilet.
"Being half asleep, I just accidentally left the door closed but unlocked," he said.
The father of three said the teens allegedly took keys from inside his caravan, just an arm's length away from his family as they slept.
"[It's] a little bit discomforting considering where they took the keys from, it was about a metre away from our kids' bed," he said.
Three juveniles charged
Geraldton Police officer-in-charge Senior Sergeant Nathan Johansen said after investigations, three teens aged between 14 and 16 were charged with a number of offences, including stealing a motor vehicle, reckless driving and driving without a licence.
Senior Sergeant Johansen said police would allege the trio drove the stolen vehicle through the Geraldton suburbs before dumping it in bushland at Karloo.
"Upon exiting the vehicle, they have attempted to destroy the vehicle by lighting a fire on the front seat, which has fortunately been extinguished," he said.
Senior Sergeant Johansen said the nature of the alleged crime was frustrating for the family.
"We've got a family, who are without a vehicle, it's not roadworthy, cannot be driven, so [it's] quite upsetting for them," he said.
"The danger that these youths put themselves in — neither of them has a licence, [they are] too young, the reckless driving and the manner in which they've driven this car around is a danger to the public and themselves."
Acts of generosity
Mr Jones and his family have been stranded since Saturday, and were unable to find a car company that would allow them to drive from WA to Victoria.
"We had full comprehensive insurance, but we needed a tow vehicle to tow back to Victoria [and] they couldn't find a single suitable car through a hire company," he said.
In desperation, the family turned to social media for help.
"There's been some super generous people out there, so we've had a couple of offers of people helping with the transport of the caravan back home," Mr Jones said.
"We've had another fella who has offered to privately hire me his car that I can use to tow the caravan back to Victoria.
"He owns a transport business in Perth — he said if we drive it across, he can pick it up.
"That's a pretty massive offer for someone who doesn't know me whatsoever."
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