It might not be much to burglar but to a Christchurch woman who lost her husband recently, a stolen video was full of memories and pictures which cannot be replaced.
"It is an old model, about 12 years old, no use to anyone but my family," says the 31 year old woman. "The video camera with tapes of family was taken and I need them to show my young children all about Dad. My wedding ring, passports, and family items which are sentimental and precious were taken."
What is worse is that this comes in a bad year for the family, the year from hell. The family's house had already been burgled in February and in May her husband died.
Many of the missing items become priceless. She has three children. Her elder daughter's special jewellery had been engraved to commemorate special occasions. The family files with all the family papers have also been taken and there will now be all the disruptions of having to replace these.
Sunday about mid afternoon the family came home to find the house burgled and trashed. The house was cleaned out. What was worse was the mess.
"It was just horrendous," she says. "They deliberately trashed and broke things; they deliberately threw ice cream and food from the freezer all over the floor. They were real mean things to do."
The woman who does not want to be identified is asking for the burglars to get her video back, it is of no use to them, especially the tapes which were in a bag with it.
Anyone who finds items discarded is asked to contact police immediately. And we are appealing to some offender's conscience to get items back to help this family.