“I almost collapsed when I came home.” Sofia Mastoris OAM describes her reaction when she found out that her house had been ransacked, while she was visiting her terminally ill daughter in hospital and looking after her three grandchildren. Known to the community for her tireless work in various organisations – not least among them the Pan Hellenic Women’s Federation of Victoria – Sofia Mastoris was made it to the Australia Day honours list in 2008, when she was awarded a medal for her service. Now this medal is among the items stolen from her Lalor home.
I don’t know why they stole it, because it has no value to anyone, but it hase extremely sentimental value to me,” she said in an interview with Herald Sun.
The paper also spoke with Whittlesea CIU detective Senior Constable Peter Anderson, who called for anyone having any information about the “heartless” crime, which took place between Tuesday 23 January and Thursday 1st February, to contact the police (on 94073355), while urging the burglars to return the medal. “The medal has no financial value, so we’re pleading with whoever stole it to make arrangements to return it,” he said, calling for the culprits to anonymously notify police of where the medal could be picked up.