Pensioner allegedly hogtied and forced to watch house burn down during a terrifying home invasion
A Tasmanian pensioner was kept handcuffed for nearly three hours and forced to watch his home being burned down by two masked men who stole firearms from his property in a terrifying home invasion.
Grant Whelan, 76, is recovering in hospital following the burglary and assault at his rural property on Coles Bay Road in Coles Bay, about 120 miles north-east of Hobart, at 5am on Saturday.
Police allege two masked men carrying crowbars entered Mr Whelan’s home and attacked him before demanding access to his firearms safe.
The men stole registered weapons and cash and fled in Mr Whelan’s 1998 Toyota HiLux. The vehicle was later found submerged under the Apsley River Bridge by police.
The intruders dragged Mr Whelan outside and set fire to his house, destroying his home and all his belongings before fleeing the property.
Mr Whelan’s son-in-law Reid Hooker told ABC Hobart that an off-duty firefighter saw a red flash as he passed the house and reported it to Coles Bay Fire Brigade, who rushed to the property thinking it was a grass fire.
Emergency services arrived at the property and found Mr Whelan bound and gagged outside in the cold.
“The fire brigade came to put out the fire and found him outside making moaning noises and they went to help him,” Mr Hooker said.
“No one in the world deserves this kind of treatment, you know, it’s just a shame.”
Mr Whelan was taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital in a serious condition after suffering multiple non-life-threatening assault injuries.
Mr Hooker said his father-in-law’s condition worsened on Sunday with bleeding and fluid building up in his lungs, which put pressure on his heart.
“He has terrible bruises and cuts on his arms where he was protecting himself,” he said.
“He was taken to a cardiac unit to monitor his heart, his heart rate and blood pressure were very low.”
Mr Whelan was a farmer and president of the Glamorgan Gun and Rifle Club, where they participated in clay target shooting.
Mr Hooker said Mr Whelan had several shotguns he used in incidents, which were locked in a safe along with internal security cameras.
“The irony of this is that if these cameras had unfortunately not been working, one of them being an extremely high-tech, object-tracking digital camera, his house could potentially have not burned down had the crooks not seen all these cameras,” Mr Reid said.
“He was overwhelmingly security conscious, and that probably cost him a lot in the end.”
Mr Whelan’s family is a GoFundMe page to help him get back on his feet after losing all his belongings and his home in the incident.
Mr. Hooker said his father-in-law was retired and had no insurance.
“I think like everyone else in life, you need to set priorities about where you spend your money,” he said.
“It wasn’t a very big house, it was relatively new, but it fully met the needs of a single retiree who usually lived alone.
“But given that he was pretty isolated and didn’t expect something like this to happen, he never felt the need to insure it.”
His daughter, Chantel Yates, said they were so grateful he was still with them.
“The house and everything in it is gone. Gone are his clothes, furniture, tools, a lifetime of photographs, and the Medal of Valor he was most proud of,” he said on GoFundMe.
“My dad is old school and never had insurance, so there’s nothing coming up to help him start over.
“My father, as anyone who knew him will tell you, spent his life helping other people. Now he has to recover from this attack and rebuild from the ground up, and this time he’s the one who needs help.”
“Funds raised will go directly to my father and will first cover his immediate needs (clothing, basic needs, medical and recovery expenses, and a place to live) and then go towards rebuilding his home.”
Police are urging anyone with information about this serious incident to contact Crime Stoppers.
