The daughter of a 76-year-old Coles Bay man who was allegedly beaten, tied up and had his home set on fire during a burglary has described the ordeal as “horrific” and said her father has lost everything.
Chantel Yates has launched a fundraiser for her father Grant Whelan, explaining that the house and all its contents were destroyed in the early hours of Saturday.
“His clothes, his furniture, his tools, a lifetime of photographs and the Bravery Medal he was proudest of” were all gone, the fundraiser said.
Whelan received the Bravery Medal in 1995 after rescuing crewman Tony Burgess from the sea when the crayboat Trevor John was wrecked on a reef off Tasmania’s West Coast in December 1993.
“Dad is old school and never held insurance, so there is nothing coming to help him start again,” the fundraiser said.
Yates said money raised would go directly to Whelan, covering immediate needs such as clothing, medical costs and somewhere to live before going toward rebuilding his home.
The family described Whelan as a lifelong Coles Bay resident whose family came to the bay in 1947.
He spent his working years as a crayfisherman on the Southern Cross.
“Dad has spent his life helping other people, as anyone who knows him will tell you,” the fundraiser said.
“Now he has to recover from this attack and rebuild from nothing and for once he’s the one who needs a hand.”
Yates also thanked the local community for rallying around the family.
“Dad is doing OK, as well as can be expected after such a horrific experience,” she wrote.
She asked locals to pass word on to her father’s friends that he was all right.
Police say two men wearing balaclavas and dark clothing forced their way into the home about 5am and assaulted him with a crowbar.
They repeatedly demanded access to his firearms safe before stealing nine registered firearms and a quantity of cash.
The men allegedly bound him with cable ties, dragged him into the yard and set the house alight. The home was destroyed.
Before fleeing, they stole his white 1998 Toyota Hilux single-cab ute, which has a red crane, three spotlights and a light bar.
The ute was found almost fully submerged under the Apsley River Bridge along Coles Bay Road, near the intersection with the Tasman Highway, on Saturday afternoon.
The man was treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital.
Whelan remains in hospital in a stable condition, with police saying their investigations into the incident are ongoing.
