Car stolen from Middlemore Hospital carpark recovered damaged, valuables missing

A car belonging to a pregnant woman stolen in an audacious day-time theft from Middlemore Hospital has been recovered but left with so much damage she’s going to have to “pull money from the air” to pay for repairs.

Daisy Pedersen said the police had contacted her to tell her the stolen Toyota Mark X which she had just purchased a week ago had been found in Mt Roskill - 14km from where it was taken - but was “a little bit damaged”.

She said she was still waiting to see the state of the car after mounting her own search in the central-west suburb.

Pedersen said officers warned her rear tyres were worn from skids, the ignition was now destroyed, the battery drained and a rear passenger window smashed.

Her laptop and wallet were also missing. Fortunately, work-related property files and house keys were still inside.

The pregnant property manager said the ordeal had been incredibly disruptive and financially crippling.

A man seen stealing Daisy Pedersen's car from the parking lot at Middlemore Hospital on Tuesday. Photo / Supplied

“I don’t have a car now - my husband and I have been sharing a courtesy car - and I don’t know how I’m going to get around.

“I’ve already had to use the money for my rent to buy a new laptop so that I could pay for my rent.

“I don’t know what else to do. I have to pull money from the air to cover some of the costs of the things that they’ve stolen from me.”

She said she was uncertain if she’d be able to even drive the car again given the ordeal she had gone through.

“It leaves you with a bit of a stink feeling knowing that your car has been stolen.”

Pederson had only just bought the big-ticket item to mark her birthday and in preparation to welcome her baby.

Daisy Pedersen had just purchased the car a week ago for her birthday. Photo / Alex Burton

She was making a quick trip to the hospital on Tuesday afternoon to visit a relative when a man wearing a red hoodie and black pants broke into her new sedan and drove off with it.

While she didn’t see the brazen daylight theft a bystander filmed it from the window of a hospital room in the nearby high-rise building.

Thinking she had baby-brain, Pedersen walked up and down the rows in the car park until she heard a knock on a window – and looked up to see the bystander mouthing to her “are you looking for your car?”

She was given a copy of the shocking footage and posted it on social media.

“I came back and my car was gone, I was really shocked, it was shocking that it happened during the day,” Pedersen told the Herald.

“I put it out because I knew social media would work a lot faster [than a police investigation].

A person later sent her a video of what appeared to be her car doing a skid down a road in Mt Roskill, around 14km from the hospital.

She and her husband grabbed a high-powered spotlight to go searching for the car later that night but were unable to find it.

Police today confirmed they had now located the vehicle stolen from a car park at Middlemore Hospital earlier this week.

The incident occurred on Tuesday and reported to police just before 4pm that day.

The stolen vehicle was recovered yesterday on Oakdale Rd in Mt Roskill.

A spokesperson said police continued to make inquiries into the matter.