Yesterday at 7:15 PM • Edited yesterday at 9:20 PM
Unsuspecting, 90-year-old Maria was walking her dog in the Wilhelminastraat in Asten on Thursday when a man violently ripped a chain from her neck. Riet, as her family calls her, did everything she could to protect herself and her dog Moos, but the damage had already been done. The thief took her deceased husband’s necklace and ran away. “You wonder if she can still walk the streets safely,” says granddaughter Esmee, shocked.
Just like every afternoon, Riet walked across Wilhelminastraat on Thursday around noon to walk her dog Moos. The street is only tens of meters away from the retirement home, where her caregivers were already waiting for Riet.
“A boy walked up to her. She thought he was going to ask for directions, because that’s how he stood,” says granddaughter Esmee. But before Riet knew it, he ripped the chain from her neck. “It is her husband’s, my grandfather’s, necklace, which she wore every day for decades.”
It happened in a matter of seconds in broad daylight. That is precisely what frightens the family. “She is a bit demented and confused. You wonder whether she can still walk the streets safely, because apparently you are no longer safe in broad daylight,” Esmee sighs.
“She got some kind of primal power.”
Physically, Riet suffered nothing from the robbery. “She is quite shaky, but she gained a kind of primal strength. Her dog is everything to her so she held Moos tightly and she was able to hold on to her walker.”
Yet the impact of the robbery is noticeable to Riet. “She is looking for her necklace all the time. My grandmother is a dignified lady who likes to wear jewelry. She realizes that something has happened and you notice that she is panicking. She has been given medication to calm down,” says the granddaughter.
“I hope to warn others”
Esmee and the rest of the family also have to recover from the shock. “I’ve been thinking all day about how something like this could happen in broad daylight. Who would do something like that?” Riet has reported the incident to the police. Her granddaughter hopes that people who saw the robbery will come forward. “And I hope to warn others to pay attention,” says Esmee.
