The 67-year-old had left a disability justice centre community meeting in Lockridge on Saturday, March 22, to find her 50cc scooter’s engine dead and the headlight smashed.
Mrs Castano, who cares for her husband, said she had been at the Alice Daveron Centre for about an hour, and between 4pm and 4.30pm, someone had attempted to steal the vehicle.
‘I was shocked,’ she said. ‘It was where I’d left it, but you could see the scrape marks on the tarmac where someone had tried to move it and the glass on the headlight was been smashed.
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READ NOW‘I felt as if my world had fallen apart, it was the third time something like this has happened to me. It’s because it looks like an easy target, but it’s got three locks and I always lock it up.’
With her scooter engine dead, Mrs Castano said she had no other choice but to push it home, which took an hour.
‘It was quite a struggle, it is only 2km, but it is mostly up-hill,’ she said.
‘I was knackered by the time I got home, but I reported it to police immediately.’
Kiara police station officer-in-charge Acting Senior Sergeant Ric De Castro said most scooters were damaged during attempts made to steal them.
He said between March 26, 2013 and March 27, 2014, about 15 scooters were reported stolen in the Kiara sub-district.
‘An increase in scooter purchasing has led to a higher incident of thefts,’ Sgt De Castro said.
‘They’re very easy to steal compared with other motor vehicles and very hard to find or recover.
‘It is a concern for WA Police as it is another mode of transport that the criminals can use to get away and around and commit further crimes.
‘We are hoping that with owners adopting a strategy of locking and securing their scooters, a decrease in theft should be evident.’