Robbed!

Our place was robbed yesterday.

The story:-

Because of today's public holiday, I got the day off yesterday as replacement leave, but Hubby had to work. So I spent the day shopping for fabric with my mom and searched for sandals at 1 Utama before picking up Hubby and the kids later to balik kampung...

We stopped by our place to pick up our bags on the way from my mom's to Seremban, and since it was supposed to be a quick stop je, we didn't park at our usual place, but just in front of the lobby entrance. After quite some time, Hubby came down with a strange look on his face. 'Rumah kite kena pecah masuk...' came out from his mouth.

I was in shock. While Hubby went to the entrance guardhouse to inform security and do the necessary, my mind was reeling with all sorts of thoughts. 'There's nothing of value in the house... I KNOW I locked all the doors and padlock before leaving... what did they take? How could this happen???'

I was pretty sure Hubby's laptop would be gone, but couldn't think of anything else the intruder would have taken since anything else of significant value would be big, ie TV, fridge, DVD player etc. Turns out he got away with quite a decent loot - the laptop, our digital camera (but without the charger, which was obviously moved from its original place but not taken), my watch (just a Swatch, but it was still a pretty watch, and still quite new), Hubby's company's complimentary backpack (it had a compartment for a laptop, and could fit in everything else he had taken), my Coach leather wristlet (barely used!), and the saddest thing of all - our rings. I don't have much jewelry, except for whatever I have on me, but I had a collection of rings that were of sentimental value to me... cincin merisik, my graduation ring, Hubby's RMC graduation ring, a lovely tanzanite & diamond platinum ring I bought in the US, a filigree white gold ring from the US, and the most irreplaceable of all, arwah Wan's diamond and gold ring, which my aunt had given to me since I was the only one who could wear it... everything else we can insya-Allah slowly replace in time, but Wan's ring is lost for good...

Memang I sedih pasal cincin tu... I was planning on turning it into an heirloom to be passed to Amani, then Amani's daughter, and so on and so on... and it was a link between Wan & me... I hate the robber for what he did!

It was a lot of hassle to settle everything... had to go to the police station to make a report (that experience alone is worth an entry, tapi malas nak citer... boleh buat sakit ati jugak kalau ingat balik...), be home for the investigating officers to come and do their thing, replace the doorknob and padlock (the padlock was completely missing, BTW, and the grille and doorknob forced open) - and all this had to be done even though none of us had any dinner yet...

Thankfully my mom and brother came by with some food, and my BIL helped buy the padlock and doorknob (takut by the time everything was settled, there weren't any hardware stores still open)... semua rasa macam taknak tido situ for the night after that. Amani was scared when I told her 'orang jahat masuk rumah kita', and wanted to sleep at Atok & Opah's... poor thing, she wondered what was going on, and I didn't want to lie to her... so the kids went off with my mom & brother first while we finished cleaning up, then all of us spent the night at my parents' house...

When I started cleaning up the mess the instruder left behind in our little wardrobe, I picked up a damp Ralph Lauren XXL shirt. I thought for some reason maybe my BIL came by with a different top and changed before he helped Hubby with the door, but he said it wasn't his. Then it dawned on us.... 'Omigod, it's his blo*#y shirt!!!' Even though it was technically evidence, we didn't want to keep it anywhere near our place, in case la kan... so Hubby threw it away. I guess we were lucky... apparently some robbers' pantang entails leaving their sh1t behind, so at least this one was 'cleaner'...

For a while, I wondered what would have happened if I had decided to just stay at home alone yesterday... would he have still forced his way in? If he didn't, that'd be OK... but what if he HAD come in while I was there? I didn't want to think of what could have been if that happened...


The ending:-

We are thankful that no one was hurt... but we're still shaken by the experience... I pray that this will never happen to us again... a family is supposed to feel safe in their own home, right?

Something to ponder upon... if the guards didn't see anything suspicious, would that indicate another resident is responsible for this?????