Narrogin police recover about $10,000 stolen property from string of daylight burglaries

Narrogin police have recovered about $10,000 worth of property stolen during a string of daylight burglaries last week. Two juveniles — aged 15 and 17— and an 18-year-old man have each been charged with aggravated burglary in relation to three incidents on Monday, October 10. The burglaries were committed at separate properties within a 300m radius in Narrogin during daylight hours. Narrogin police officer-in-charge Sen. Sgt Shannon McGeown said about 80 per cent of the stolen property had been recovered as of October 14, including gaming consoles, jewellery, cameras, a musical instrument and a mountain bike. Sen. Sgt McGeown said information from the community helped police recover the property and lay charges. “We started doing some door-knocks and doing some work on the ground talking to people, taking as much information as possible from the community, which was really helpful and led us to some target addresses which we executed search warrants at,” he said. Sen. Const. Emma Page said there was no forensic evidence from the three burglaries. She said given the circumstances, it was rare for the team to recover so much property. “It was a pretty tough one,” she said. “You really feel like you let people down when you can’t find forensics evidence, because it’s almost like ‘where to from here?’ “So we just got out there and spoke to people and we got assistance from the public which pointed us in the right direction. “Some warrants were conducted and the end result was all the property from one of the victims was recovered and some of the property from another burglary was recovered as well.” Sen. Const. Page said the property was recovered from five separate locations around Narrogin. Narrogin resident Shirley O’Farrell was one of the victims of the string of burglaries on October 10. Ms O’Farrell recounted coming home from work only to find her house broken into — the second time in 10 years her home had been targeted. “When I got home, I walked in the back and saw some gardening tools which I thought I had put away,” she said. “Then I looked up and my back window was open, and I later found out a rock had been thrown through it as well, which was laying on the bed inside the room. “I opened the screen door, but the back door was open, when I always lock it.” Her grandchildren’s Xbox, a laptop, sentimental jewellery and a ukulele were stolen from her property. Ms O’Farrell said she got a call from Narrogin police the next day informing her some of the property had been recovered. “It was just amazing,” she said. “It happened on Monday, and by Tuesday they rang me and said they had some of the jewellery, then on Wednesday they rang again with more recovered property. “I had a pearl necklace that belonged to my mum — who would have turned 100 years old this month — and that I wore to two of my kids’ weddings, and I got that back. “The stolen jewellery was still in the evidence bags from when it got returned last time.” Sen. Sgt McGeown said he was proud of the work conducted by Narrogin police. “Everyone has got the right to feel safe at home and everyone has the right for their belongings to stay where they are when they leave the house,” he said. “We take these kinds of offences really seriously and we spend as much resources as we possibly can and work tirelessly to locate stolen property and pursue the offenders or the suspects “It was a pleasing result to be able to get Shirley’s property back, which was really precious to her, and to the other victims as well.” The 15-year-old has pleaded guilty to his charge and was due to be sentenced in the Perth Children’s Court on Wednesday. The 17-year-old and 18-year-old have been released on bail and are due to face Narrogin Magistrates Court next week.