PlayStation
stolen from hospital’s children’s ward
It’s hard to imagine anything
lower than stealing from sick children— but
that’s what someone did when a PlayStation
2 was taken
from Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s children’s
ward last week. The games console had been donated
just a month earlier and was bolted onto a trolley.
‘‘The children are very sad—it’s
pretty damn low to pinch things from sick kids,’’
children’s ward team leader Chris Stack said.
She believed someone had taken the trolley into
one of the toilets, unbolted the PlayStation, and
made off with it last Monday.
It was used constantly by older children who were
recovering from surgery or broken bones and could
not get out of bed. The theft was especially distressing
because someone had been kind enough to raise money
and make a donation to the ward. ‘‘The
hospital struggles to pay for medical equipment,
let alone play equipment to make the children’s
stay a little more enjoyable,’’ she said.
Taradale 14-year-old Ricki Coldicutt, who was in
hospital to get his appendix removed, was one of
the last patients to use the PlayStation. ‘‘It’s
real stink for the rest of the patients . . . there’s
other stuff to do there, like a computer, but the
PlayStation was a real treat,’’ Ricki
said. Nine-year-old Cadena Paul, of Flaxmere, was
admitted to hospital on Monday and had a turn on
the console just before it was stolen. ‘‘It’s
not fair for the kids who are sick,’’
she said. The PlayStation was donated by Hawke’s
Bay Prison staff who raised several hundred dollars
while hosting the New Zealand Corrections Officers
Golf Nationals earlier this year.
Hastings senior sergeant Greg Bradshaw warned that
buying stolen property was also a serious offence.
‘‘PlayStations are popular, and
people won’t always ask questions if they’re
offered one for $50,’’ he said.
|
KING Andy was visiting Hawke’s
Bay Hospital to hand out balloons and Hawke’s
Bay Today Kids’ Page goodies when he learned
someone had nicked a PlayStation from the children’s
ward — even though it was bolted onto a trolley.
Nine-year-old Cadena Paul from Flaxmere was equally
upset.
|
|
A
happy outcome on Wednesday 12th May 2004
Donated
game consoles
cheer up young patients
All last week children at Hawke’s
Bay Hospital lay bored in bed, mourning the theft
of their month-old PlayStation. But just a day after
Hawke’s Bay Today reported how a visitor had
sunk to a new low by stealing from sick kids, the
children’s ward found itself on the receiving
end of a wave of public generosity — and the
owner of two brandnew games consoles. Children’s
ward team leader Chris Stack said she had five offers
of a replacement PlayStation within hours of Monday’s
newspaper hitting the stands. ‘‘It does
your heart good,’’ she said. The Harvey
Norman store in Hastings delivered one of the new
PlayStations yesterday, and another is on its way
from Duckworths Retravision in Napier. Richie Ngawhika,
of Harvey Norman, said he was a father of seven and
over the years his children had been in and out of
hospital many times. ‘‘You don’t pinch
from kids, especially not from sick kids — that’s
just low,’’ he said. The games console,
along with a TV and other goods, had been donated
a month earlier by Hawke’s Bay Prison officers
who ran a fundraising raffle during
their national golf tournament. The prize was a round
of golf with comedian Mike King. Corrections officer
Steve Rainbow said he was gutted to hear about the
theft. ‘‘Then we thought bugger it, let’s
have a whip round and get
something else for the kids.’’ Two more
people contacted the children’s ward offering
to buy a
replacement, and another phoned Hawke’s Bay Today.
Angus Demalmanche, a 12-year-old from Te Hauke, said
Spiderman was his favourite
game so far. ‘‘It was very kind of them
to buy a new PlayStation, especially after what happened
to the last one,’’ he said. Benita Kahukura,
13, of
Whakaki, said the gift was ‘‘pretty cool’’
— but she preferred horse riding and duck shooting
to
playing indoors. The replacement PlayStation
will be bolted even more securely to a trolley, but
staff say there is little more they can do.
However, they hope newspaper coverage of the theft
had given the culprit a fright, and security camera
footage, showing a visitor leaving the ward with something
concealed under his jacket, had been given to police.
|
TEST DRIVE: Trying out one of the new PlayStations
at Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s children’s
ward are, from left, Richie Ngawhika of Harvey Norman
in Hastings; Amy Hogg, eight, of Hastings; Benita
Kahukura, 13, of Whakaki; Angus Demalmanche, 12,
of Te Hauke; and Jozakim Rogan, four, of Napier.
|
