By Jessica McSweeney and Ben Cubby
Police are investigating after a couple were spotted apparently stealing flowers from the memorial of a hit-and-run victim.
Stacey Disbray set up the memorial at Jersey Road, Blackett, after her best friend and “one-of-a-kind man” Rhyce Harding was killed in an alleged road rage incident last month.
A photograph posted on Facebook appears to show people taking flowers from a roadside memorial to Rhyce Harding in Blackett, near Mount Druitt.Credit: Facebook
She was shocked on Sunday when she saw the memorial, which included bouquets of real and fake flowers, appearing to be ransacked by two people.
A Facebook user spotted the pair, who Disbray said had no connection to Harding’s family, loading the flowers into the back of a car.
The pair allegedly took several bunches of flowers and threw away memorial cards.Credit: Faceboook
Disbray said she was distraught that not only the flowers, but also the cards and messages left by mourners and meant for Harding’s parents, had been taken.
“It’s disgusting. Why would you steal from someone’s memorial,” she said.
“There’s clearly a cross there and cards with well wishes that I was going to collect to give to his parents after the funeral. It’s pretty sick. We haven’t even been able to lay him to rest yet.”
Disbray said she would replenish the flowers at the memorial on Monday afternoon.
A Facebook user who said they witnessed the flowers being removed wrote: “How low can you be, stealing from the dead.
“You have been caught,” they wrote. “How bad can you get, you should be ashamed of yourself doing this in public especially when you have [an] expensive car.”
Harding, a 27-year-old tradesman, was on his way to work at 8.45am on Thursday, June 20, when he allegedly became involved in a road rage incident with 39-year-old Bradley Wilkinson.
CCTV footage from buildings along Jersey Road showed Harding either clinging to or being held against the side of Wilkinson’s white ute for about 100 metres as it travelled down the road.
Wilkinson handed himself in at Mount Druitt police station the following day. He was charged with manslaughter, failing to stop and assisting after a vehicle impact causing death, negligent driving (occasioning death), and dangerous driving occasioning death – driving in a dangerous manner.
He remains in custody and is due to face court on July 17.
Police are investigating the alleged flower theft.
“Officers from Mt Druitt police area command are aware of a social media post relating to the removal of flowers from a makeshift memorial site along Jersey Road, Blackett,” a NSW Police spokesperson said.
“An investigation into the incident has commenced.”
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