A blind pensioner whose house was ransacked while he was on vacation has been left feeling "violated" as a result.
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Colin Spicer and his wife travelled to Port Macquarie on Saturday, September 9, but less than 24 hours later they received a call from police.
"They were at the house and it had been broken into," he said.
The couple arrived back home on September 19 and although they are still working out what exactly was taken, they've already noted a few things missing.
"I'm a 74-year-old blind pensioner. I'm not the richest house in the street and we buy everything from op-shops," Mr Spicer said.
"But I had a few moneyboxes in the wardrobe because I was putting money away for the grandkids.
"There was probably a couple thousand dollars in them. When the grandson was up a couple weeks ago I gave him the big one to hold and he said 'oh god, how heavy is that'."
Among other items gone included a dress ring once owned by his late mum which was "the only thing" he had left from her.
It wasn't just the house though, as thieves riffled through "every single" container in the garage too.
"Every box, every drawer, they'd all been emptied but not taken because there's nothing valuable there," Mr Spice added.
"It's just the carnage, destruction and upheaval of everything."
Police confirmed they attended the house in east Orange and said it was broken into between 6pm on September 9 and 10am on September 10.
No arrests have been made and investigations are continuing.
This is far from the first time Mr Spicer has been a victim of crime.
Having worked as a registered nurse for decades, including at Bloomfield Hospital, by the time Mr Spicer turned 50 he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. This is a rare eye disease that causes cells in the retina to slowly break down over time.
"It started to send me blind," he said.
Despite this, he continued to work as much as he could until he turned 70 when his vision became too limited.
In the past 20 years, Mr Spicer estimated he'd had belongings stolen up to 15 times. This included his car a few years ago.
As for this most recent crime, it was the "violation of privacy" which had him the most concerned.
"The sad thing about being blind is you'll use a white cane and people will think that's an easy place to knock over," he said.
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