Big reward offer for a conviction

Mr Pond said someone in the local community ‘should know something’and he was still hopeful the cash would be found.

‘It was my life savings because I don’t trust the banks,’ he said. ‘I’m hoping there will be someone out there who knows something and it will lead to a conviction.’

Mr Pond said he had attended a boxing night at the Embassy Ballroom in Belmont on March 24 last year and was away for only a few hours.

When he returned to his home, attached to the Penn Way gym, the cash was missing.

‘It was an opportunistic robbery; they didn’t know what they were looking for,’ he said.

Mr Pond asked anyone with information to call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.

‘I just want to get my money back,’ he said.

Mr Pond said the loss had caused him a lot of stress.

‘I’ve had personal problems with my family through the loss of this money,’ he said.

He said the cash, saved over a period of 20 years, was to have been spent on completing the gym that he was building himself.

He had now almost finished the gym, which he planned to provide local youth with boxing and fitness classes.

‘I’ve been going solid for the past four or five months, doing all the work,’ he said.