Update – 2pm
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Riverina Police District Inspector Peter McLay said it was “not a good reflection” on Wagga after a woman visiting from Queensland was robbed on Saturday.
A 71-year-old woman was walking along Forsyth Street around 9.30pm on Saturday when a man approached her and grabbed her handbag, ran off and jumped into the rear of the stolen car.
“She wasn’t injured but she was traumatised; the bag was taken from her shoulder and obviously contained a lot of personal belongings,” Inspector McLay said.
“We are appealing for anyone who might have seen that handbag. It’s described as a large brown handbag.”
She and she husband were visiting from Queensland, so it’s not a good thing for them and it’s not a good reflection on the town.”
A few hours later, the car was used in a ‘ram raid’ to smash through the doors of a Wagga bottle shop.
Inspector McLay said said the two incidents were “very brazen” with a lot of people still in the vicinity and the hotel still trading when the car was driving through its bottleshop doors at 12:30am.
“It’s a brazen attack and it’s on that we are very keen to solve as soon as possible,” he said.
Inspector McLay said the car was spotted and pursued, but the chase was called off due to “safety concerns”.
Inspector McLay urged anyone with information on the thefts to contact Crimestoppers.
Earlier – 7.23am
A vehicle stolen from Coolamon at the weekend was the getaway car for a brazen robbery of an elderly woman and a bottle shop ram raid before leading police on a pursuit through Wagga’s suburbs.
Thieves took a Mitsubishi ASX from a home in Coolamon on Saturday and then went on a crime spree in Wagga later that day, police said.
A 71-year-old woman was walking along Forsyth Street around 9.30pm on Saturday when a man approached her and grabbed her handbag, ran off and jumped into the rear of the stolen car.
A crime scene was established and investigations led police to identifying the Mitsubishi as being stolen earlier that day.
Several hours later, around 12.20am, the car slammed through the doors of a Forsyth Street bottle shop.
Four people went through the store, taking a quantity of alcohol and cigarettes before getting back into the ASX and leaving the scene.
Shortly before 2am, police saw the car in Pinaroo Drive, Glenfield Park, and initiated a pursuit.
It was terminated a short time later and the car was found burnt out in Malta Crescent, Ashmont around 5.30am on Sunday.
Anyone with information relating the incidents is urged to contact Riverina Police District or Crime Stoppers by calling 1800 333 000.
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