The ring was given to Abby Macredie for her 21st birthday and included her parents' wedding and engagement rings from before they separated. Photo / Supplied
The ring was given to Abby Macredie for her 21st birthday and included her parents' wedding and engagement rings from before they separated. Photo / Supplied
While many of the items stolen from the back of Abby Macredie's car can be replaced, a special pounamu necklace, featuring her parents' wedding rings which was given to her for her 21st birthday, can't be.
The 22-year-old had just returned home to Napier from Christchurch on Saturday when hercar - laden with "everything she owned" - was stolen from outside her house.
The 2006 Subaru Outback was her "first proper car" which she'd had since Christmas.
It was parked outside for only about one hour when her mother realised it had been stolen after returning from the shops.
"It didn't feel very real. I was in a bit of shock," Macredie said.
They contacted police and were keeping an eye out for the car when it was spotted just a hundred metres from where it was stolen while she was driving home with her boyfriend.
It was covered in mud and the tyres smelled of burnt rubber.
Twenty-two-year-old Napier woman Abby Macredie just wants her pounamu necklace featuring her parents' wedding rings back. Photo / Supplied
She waited for police before trying to open it but could see through the windows that most of her belongings had been taken.
"I hadn't really believed it throughout the day. It was really upsetting."
The car and many of the items will be covered by insurance, she said.
"The monetary things can be replaced but you can't replace the sentimental value.
"[The pounamu is] made out of my mother's engagement ring to my dad who she separated from when I was 1. She had been holding on to it to give me on my 21st birthday.
"It's irreplaceable."
Macredie said she'd be happy to pay a reward to anyone who can return the necklace.
