Have you been the victim of repeated burglaries?
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The Herald's front page story today of 10-year-old Charlotte Renaud - whose house has been burgled seven times in two years - has touched readers around the country.
The Herald has received a flood of offers from people wanting to help Charlotte, her 11-year-old brother PJ and solo mother Felicia Renaud; with offers ranging from a new Nintendo game, to helping the family find a new home.
Charlotte, whose prized Nintendo console game was stolen in the lastest robbery last Wednesday, told the Herald yesterday: "It's not fair. It's just selfish and mean."
She had bought the game for $105 - birthday and Christmas money she had saved for two years - from her brother.
The Renauds have lived at their Glen Innes home for three years.
Their home has been broken into on six occasions and their car, parked in the driveway, broken into once at night while they were sleeping.
"The kids are scared and panic if we're on the road and they realise they haven't locked a door - running back to the house," Ms Renaud says.
"No one will come over for a sleepover. Their friends know about all the burglaries."
Ms Renaud is insured, and has spent almost $5000 on a new security alarm system, padlocks on doors and in the garage, security lights, locks on all the windows and a new fence behind the family home.
"I don't go anywhere now, without locking down. All the windows have locks on them now."
The Renaud family home was broken into the first time less than a year after they moved in, in November 2007.
The thieves took an entertainment system - including a television set , DVD player and CDs - a computer, a digital camera and a sports bag.
An alarm system was installed, but that did not stop the burglars, who tried to break into PJ's room twice on different occasions, using a crowbar.
"The windows were smashed and there were holes in the walls from the crowbar," Ms Renaud said.
This year, the family have been hit four times in four months.
PJ's bike was stolen twice and Ms Renaud's car was broken into while it was parked in the driveway.
In the latest burglary, last Wednesday, thieves broke through a deadbolt lock on the back door and ransacked the lounge.
They took Charlotte's Nintendo game console, but were scared off by the alarm system before grabbing anything else.
"It's not fair," Charlotte said.
"It's not really nice and they shouldn't hurt anybody, even little kids.
"It's just selfish and mean."
Ms Renaud said she had reported the burglaries to the police, but the burglars had never been caught.
However, Senior Sergeant Graeme Porter of Glenn Innes police said he was not aware of the cases, which could have been dealt with by other police officers.
Mr Porter said that despite the "unfortunate burglaries" at the Renaud home, police had seen a drop in the number of burglaries in the area in the past few months.
He said an increase in Neighbourhood Watch groups had contributed to the reduction in burglaries, but the reluctance of some people to "nark" had enabled criminals to get away.
"Some people turn a blind eye if they see someone climbing through a window. They don't want to nark," Mr Porter said.
"But these are criminals. People need to report it to the police because the next time it could be their home."
