A couple of weeks ago, Trinady Bailey woke to find her car up in flames on her front lawn.
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Someone had burnt it out while it was parked in the family’s front yard.
The 19-year-old soon-to-be mother had just moved back to her mum’s place in George Town, and had all her belongings, including everything she had bought for her baby in recent months, in the car.
“It had all my clothes that I had packed up the day before and my partner’s clothes, all my baby clothes that I had packed up to move back into my mum’s, and a hard drive full of all her pictures of all of us. She got rid of the hard copies and put them all on a hard drive,” she said.
“It all went up in flames.”
Trinady’s mother Kylie woke her up about 4am on March 14 and told her the car was burning on the nature strip in front of the house.
“We went out and called the fire brigade, and dad got out there with the hose. The police came as well and took a statement,” Ms Bailey said.
“The firefighters said if it kept going and dad didn’t come out and put the hose on it, that it would have caught the trees in front all on fire and pretty much kept burning.”
With her baby due on June 14, Ms Bailey is desperate to replace her car and buy some new baby essentials. “Every pay I’d go to the shop and buy something, added it all up in a room and then moved it.
“I’m not sure how much everything cost, but it was way too much to replace all at once. I can’t afford a new car right now. I cannot afford for all those clothes to be replaced, but I’ve had a lot of people giving me stuff over the last few days.”
Ms Bailey said she was grafeful for all the support she’s received since losing her car and belongings. Her best friend Chelsea Coward has set up a GoFundMe campaign to help her out with the financial hurdle. “[Trinady] only has 12 weeks left to go and now is struggling to get back what she had,” Ms Coward wrote on the campaign page.
“She lost multiple bags of clothes, bottles, blankets, cot sheets, photo albums and items which were in the boot, such as a play mat and baby bath.
“She is having trouble making it to her appointments without her car. This is her first pregnancy and she is having some complications, so making every appointment is a must.”
Police said investigations were ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers by phone on 1800 333 000, or online at crimestopperstas.com.au (this can be done anonymously).