In full grief, memories of his dead father are stolen from him

A resident of Montreal’s South Shore is devastated when unscrupulous thieves steal his dead father’s personal belongings and take every memento he has.

“They took everything we had left of him, and we want to give our children something to remember their grandfather about,” laments Claudia Desmarais, her voice breaking with emotion.

Her father, Denis Desmarais, died last October at the age of 69 after suffering a heart attack after three weeks in intensive care, where he was treated for a cerebral haemorrhage.

Two months later, her daughter is still trying to grieve.

“My father is dead, but it looks like the thieves have killed him a second time. They attacked him,” says M.^me Desmarais in a voice broken by emotion.

He says burglars broke into his father and mother-in-law’s house in Drummondville sometime between Monday and Tuesday night while he was at work.

A real carnage

“When she came back, all the lights were on, which is unusual. When she entered the house, she noticed open drawers in the kitchen. Everything was looted,” explains Claudia Desmarais.

Chairs were smashed and the house was “turned upside down.”

According to her, the robbers made off with a laptop belonging to her father and several pieces of jewellery.

“My sister gave her a bracelet that didn’t even cost $100, and after my dad died, she was supposed to get it back. But it was stolen,” said M.^me Wetlands.

Stolen memories

Her father was a motorcycle enthusiast and had a large jewelry collection, including several large “Harley Davidson” type rings representing him. Everything was stolen.

Being a chansonnier, he kept musical instruments in the basement. But these were not taken away by thieves, he said.

“We found a big bag of stolen goods in the basement, which they might have left behind, maybe disturbed. At least my beauty’s wedding ring – mom managed to find it inside,” consoles the 42-year-old. old woman

Claudia Desmarais mentions that she has filed a complaint with the authorities to find the culprits, but she doesn’t have much hope of recovering the stolen items.

Cry of the heart

“If I can make someone realize that a bracelet is not just an object, it also has significant sentimental value,” she says.

On social media, many residents of Drummondville say they have been victims of burglaries in recent weeks.

For its part, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) indicated that it is taking the complaints seriously and investigating them.