Members of the Collie-Cardiff RSL sub-branch are calling for the return of a ‘pricless’ bayonet stolen from the club earlier this year.
The RSL sub-branch was broken into several times on Sunday, January 14, with the offender stealing the bayonet, a Lee-Enfield .303 rifle and a bottle of bourbon.
The rifle was left in a damaged state at the Collie Police Station a week after the theft, with the Collie-Cardiff RSL finally taking possession of the item a few weeks ago.
Collie-Cardiff RSL president Gary Benton said he was ‘disappointed’ to see the state the rifle, which was donated to the club by a former member, had been left in.
He said local military historian Alan Kent had offered to attempt to restore the rifle, with the most serious damage occurring to the stock of the rifle, which was snapped in half.
A 27-year-old Mandurah man pleaded guilty in the Collie Magistrates Court last month to damaging the rifle, but there have been no charges laid for the theft of the items yet.
Nathan Hill was fined $1500 and ordered to pay $800 in compensation to the Collie-Cardiff RSL after he admitted to taking possession of the rifle and damaging it ‘out of anger’.
Magistrate Brian Mahon also suggested that Hill should write a letter of apology to the RSL sub-branch, however Mr Benton said the club still hadn’t received any compensation or apology.
“We probably wouldn’t even accept an apology if it did come,” he said.
“His apology should have been not doing it in the first place and giving the police the name of the person who broke in and took the bayonet.”
Collie-Cardiff RSL sub-branch vice president Grahame Old said members still held out hope of having the bayonet returned.
Mr Old said the bayonet – which has a 40 centimetre long blade – was carried during the Korean War by long-time member and former president of the Collie-Cardiff RSL Neil Wood, who is now deceased.
“The bayonet obviously has sentimental value to our sub-branch,” Mr Old said.
“Someone has the bayonet and someone must know who has the bayonet.
“Therefore we ask them to reconsider their actions and please hand the bayonet into any community authority.”
Mr Benton said the RSL sub-branch had to limit the number of events held in the building due to the theft.
“We’ve had to stop letting people use the place as much as we did because that’s how he knew what to take,” he said.
“Obviously he’d been in here before because he just came in and went straight for the bayonet and the rifle, without touching anything else.”