Wheelchair stolen leaving 6-year-old boy without wheels

Joyce Tepania, left, and Drew Mita Senior are gutted thieves stole their son Drew Mita-Tepania's wheelchair. Photo/ Tania Whyte

Three days into the New Year and some mean spirited thieves have stolen Drew Mita-Tepania's wheels.

For the six-year-old his wheels are his wheelchair and his main way of moving around.

His family are now appealing to the thieves who stole the yellow wheelchair from the boot of the car which was stolen from the driveway of their Whangārei home early this morning to return the wheelchair urgently.The car was pushed out of the driveway at Raumanga Heights, started out on the street and driven away.

Mean spirited thieves have stolen Drew Mita-Tepania's wheels.

A facebook post yoday soon revealed the Subaru Legacy Lancaster had been found damaged and dumped not far away in Tauroa St but minus the wheelchair and the disabled parking permit badge issued by the Whangārei District Council.

"Just give it back. It's of no use to anyone else but Boogie," said mum Joyce Tepania.
The wheelchair was in the boot of the car that Joyce parked in the driveway about 11.30pm last night.

A family member was sleeping in the lounge just three metres away from the car and had gone out on the deck about 2.20am today to have a cigarette before turning all the lights out in the house 10 minutes later.

It was some time after that thieves rolled the vehicle out the drive.

Joyce's heart sank when her partner Drew Mita Senior discovered the car, which Joyce had owned for nine years but was not insured, was gone.

Joyce rang police and at the same time posted on facebook that her car had been stolen.

As she gave details to police people were quick to respond online and the car was soon found.

The ignition barrell had been damaged but her brother in law and partner managed to get the car back home.

Cheeky Drew, or as he has been nick named Boogie, suffers from global development delay and hypotonia.

The term "global development delay" is used when a child takes longer to reach certain development milestones than other children their age which include learning to walk or talk, movement skills, learning new things and interacting with others.

Hypotonia, commonly known as floppy baby syndrome, is a state of low muscle tone, often involving reduced muscle strength.

Boogie is unable to walk and the wheelchair was the way he could be moved around.
He had the chair for a year and was crucial for him while at school at Morningside.

Thanks to the Bloomfield School Boogie would be collected by a van and taken to school in the wheelchair.

Joyce said she can't carry her son around as he is too heavy and just two weeks ago she injured her back doing just that.

Today Joyce and her family were looking at trying to get a replacement wheelchair but hoped the one specifically designed for Boogie would be returned. They were starting a givealittle page.