Family appeals for return of disabled boy's computer

The family of an eight-year-old mute boy with cerebral palsy whose sole means of communication with the outside world was stolen on the weekend has appealed for its return.

Thieves stole the $20,000 electronic communication device from his wheelchair, as Caleb Phillips sat and watched in his Christchurch home on Saturday.

Caleb was given the Ministry of Health-funded Dyvanox computer in April last year to help him communicate with others.

He had his family's names and details programmed, along with photos, phrases, songs and movies, and the device spoke for him at the press of a button, allowing him to say if he was hungry or felt sick.

Thieves snuck in the back door of the family's Wainoni home while Caleb's mother was hanging out washing on Saturday afternoon.

First they took the device's charger from his mother's bag, then the large, flat, touch-screen device while Caleb was using it.

Software on the machine tailored to the boy could not be used by anyone else, and it was password-protected, his mother Zara Phillips said.

"It is of no use to anyone but [Caleb] and allows him to attend school and communicate with others."

She hoped the thieves would realise they could not use it and leave it somewhere.

It had taken a huge amount of time to get the computer suited to Caleb's needs and he was distressed without it, she told The Press.

New Brighton police Acting Sergeant Ed Landstra called the theft a "despicable thing".

He appealed for whoever had the machine to leave it somewhere safe such as a school, library or police station, so it could be given back.

- NZPA