Sunshine Coast MIX FM breakfast host Annabelle ‘AB’ Brett had a frightening incident with a potential home intruder turn into a positive experience of community connectedness and the value of a support network.
New mum AB shared the story on air with co-host Mark Darin about the attempted break-in which happened last weekend. Her neighbour Marge had popped around to say that they had seen a young person in a balaclava trying to open their door on security footage. This had been on a Sunday afternoon with Marge home and in the shower at the time. You can listen below.
When AB and her husband Alex checked their own security footage they too discovered a boy checking out their front door too before he ran off. AB reported the incident to Crime Stoppers and shared it to her online local community group, feeling angry and anxious. The area was already on high alert after violent home invasion resulted in the death of 57 year old Zdravko Bilic a few weeks earlier.
What happened next though totally changed AB’s perspective.
“We got a knock on the door from a boy who looked a lot like the boy in our video, and his mum and dad, and they were distraught. They said, ‘This is our son. We saw your post. He was the kid in the video. He wants to apologise to you.’”
Alex had answered the door and AB had followed holding baby Dolly. The mum had been clearly impacted by the awareness that this was the home of a young family too.
Mark said:
“This is where good parents step in. I’m convinced it’s very hard to steal from someone you know. It’s very hard to harass a neighbour you know. They’ve just broken that cycle of not knowing.”
AB told Radioinfo:
“I think the parents rocking up, owning up to what this kid did and making him face his mistake was a stark reminder in the moment that this isn’t just happening to bad parents.
I have a one year old, I’m not even going to pretend to know how complex and challenging it is to raise a teen in 2025. They’re trying their best but if a kid gets mixed up in the wrong crowd, try as you might you will struggle with that. We had a man murdered by teenagers 3 streets from our house last month, it was also an important teachable moment for that kid on how scared the community is right now!”
It is. It is also the power of audio and storytelling to show why such interactions matter and why community connectedness matter.
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo.