Space in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs is difficult to come by, but a Coogee mother was shocked when she discovered her baby’s pram had been deliberately damaged after it was left in the stairwell.
It was Saturday night and Kalyn New’s husband Travis decided to leave the $900 pram under the stairwell because the back of the car was full.
Travis was out for four hours and, upon returning around midnight, found the pram had been moved to the apartment building’s outside area, covered in white paint.
He woke Kalyn to show her what he’d discovered.
"I was still kind of half-asleep and really shocked and trying to piece it all together," the 31-year-old told the Daily Mail. "Then I was really disgusted."
"I would've felt better if someone had stolen it all together," she continued. "That's a different kind of person who steals a pram, rather than leaves it for you to find with paint all over it."
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Kalyn said they don't often store the pram under the stairs, and she is especially concerned because an access key is needed to enter the building's stairwell.
"We don't store the pram there all the time, just from time to time for a few hours here and there," she said. "Knowing it's a person who may live in our complex is really disturbing."
The parents have a 10-month-old baby and believe the person responsible might be a neighbour who has left angry notes around the complex in the past.
"He's been aggressive about mundane, silly things," Kalyn said. "People not breaking down cardboard boxes in the recycle area, cigarette butts in the grassy area, orange peels in the garden bed."
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Kalyn told the Daily Mail the pram had been moved twice from under the stairs in the last six months. No note had been left, and the pram was placed in another unit's parking spot.
"Little did I know those two times were warnings," she said. "And this was the final straw."
Do you think it's acceptable to leave a pram in the stairwell?