Car used to drive elderly dad to cancer appointments burnt out near Orange

Exhausted from a long day's work, Jodie Charnock got home at about 9pm on Wednesday, March 8 and parked her car in the driveway.

The next morning, her daughter arrived at the house and, with her mum's car gone, assumed her mum was out and let herself inside.

"I then came out of the bathroom to her surprise," Ms Charnock said.

"She told me my car wasn't out the front."

Although the car thieves did not break into their home in Nunkeri Place, Ms Charnock quickly broke down into tears at the realisation of what had happened.

"My parents are elderly and my dad has stage four cancer and that car is the only car we have that they can get in and out of," Ms Charnock said.

"I kept that car just to drive them around, to pick mum up from the nursing home and take dad to all his cancer appointments. That's the only thing we really need it for is dad. I was devastated.

She took to Facebook to appeal for help in tracking down the car, in the hope that it would still be in tact when and if they found it.

Much to Ms Charnock's dismay, the Toyota Yaris was discovered two days later, having been dumped and burnt out in the forest near Four Mile Creek, after a couple noticed the vehicle in their travels.

Although the car was insured and Ms Charnock believes they will be able to get a hire vehicle as a result, she described the sting of car fires - with this being at least the eighth across Orange in 2023 alone - as a "nightmare."

"A lot of these cars they take, a lot of the poor buggers probably aren't insured," she said.

"You should be able to park your car out the front of your house if you want to, but in Orange, you can't."

Police confirmed that no arrests have been made and that inquiries are ongoing.

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