FIVEAA radio presenter Stacey Lee shares CCTV of frightening home break-in

Radio presenter Stacey Lee has spoken of her heartache and feeling of being unsafe after losing irreplaceable family heirlooms and having her home ransacked by thieves. Watch the footage.

An Adelaide media personality targeted by brazen thieves who ransacked her home has lashed the decision to deploy South Australian police to the troubled Northern Territory.

FIVEAA afternoons host and former TV newsreader Stacey Lee estimates tens of thousands of dollars of her and her husband’s possessions were stolen – along with sentimental and irreplaceable items – from her eastern suburbs home in 20 minutes on Thursday, April 4.

The heist, recorded on clear CCTV from her home’s security set up, shows a group first load up a stolen navy blue SUV before sharing the load into a white Toyota Yaris, the keys to which they found inside Lee’s home.

The group forced its way inside the property about 3pm when no-one was home.

“They arrived in the blue car, the white car is ours and they found the spare key,” Lee told The Advertiser.

“Once they realised they got access to our car, they’ve taken it.”

The footage shows the bumbling but brazen thieves nearly crash the two stolen cars as the group makes its getaway.

FIVEAA afternoons host Stacey Lee estimates tens of thousands of dollars of her and her husband’s possessions were stolen for their home. Picture: Tom Huntley

Thieves load stolen goods from one stolen car into another after breaking into the home of FIVEAA radio personality Stacey Lee. Picture: Supplied by Stacey Lee

Packed into the vehicles were a laptop, two iPads, alcohol, handbags, shoes, Lee’s husband’s Nike Air Max shoes, and all of Lee’s jewellery including some from her yiayia – or grandmother.

“It is really sentimental and is invaluable to me,” Lee said.

Lee returned home about 5pm Thursday and found her front door wide open.

Not wanting to risk her own safety, she went to her neighbour who walked inside with her to find “drawers ripped out, things torn apart, every room was trashed”.

“My wedding dress was on the floor and when I saw that, it just hit me and made me so emotional,” she said.

“It’s a home that we really love and love being at; but it’s a pretty unsafe feeling.

“We’ve changed the locks and are getting alarms to be more secure.

“We’re like everyone, you don’t want to think something like this will happen.”

Stacey Lee has reinforced security at her home after the brazen heist. Picture: Supplied by Stacey Lee

She has since reinforced security networks around the home, and has shared footage of the brazen incident – which occurred during school pick up time and while her neighbours were home – to hopefully recover some of the items.

“It was tens of thousands of dollars (worth) in 20 minutes,” she said.

“Life shattered in the blink of an eye.

“And when I pick up The Advertiser at the weekend and see we’re sending 20 police officers to the Northern Territory, I’m scratching my head.

“We have 100 or so shortfall (of police) in South Australia and I cannot reconcile the idea that we’re sending some of those well-trained officers here working for the South Australian community interstate.”

Commissioner Grant Stevens last week agreed to send 20 officers to Alice Springs on the request of the Territory’s top cop to alleviate pressure on the force caused by a strict youth curfew and an influx of people from the APY Lands.

Police Association of South Australia president Mark Carroll said he was unaware of the deployment until contacted by the Sunday Mail for comment and had not been consulted by SA Police, which he said was “extraordinary”.

Police did not answer questions by The Advertiser on Monday, but Mr Stevens defended the deployment.

“We do it for disaster management reasons. We do it for special policing operations and for major events,” he told FIVEAA.

“And the people who are going along to this or have been selected to go to the Northern Territory are all volunteers, and they’re coming from an area we call State Operations Support Branch, so they’re not coming from metropolitan patrols or country local service area patrols.”

The thieves stole about $20,000 worth of property in about 20 minutes. Picture: Supplied by Stacey Lee

Lee, a former ABC radio host who now works at FIVEaa, said a caller to the station further heightened her concerns about the shortfall in police.

She said 83-year-old Helen was broken into and had jewellery and about $15,000 in cash stolen from her home, and it took police about three hours to arrive.

“It’s not the officers themselves – they’re so under the pump that an 83-year-old woman was burgled and left alone, waiting for patrols to arrive.

“But now we’re sending some (police) interstate.

“I’m lucky I’m in the media and can share this with lots of people, and I know I am not the only one who has had to go through this.

“I want to share the story and at a time when this is happening, when crime in Rundle Mall is heightened, at a time when we’ve had to put restrictions in place in the city at certain times, we’re sending some of our valuable, trained police interstate – it doesn’t make sense.”

Lee commended the police response to her own home, praising crime scene detectives who looked at footprints and fingerprints.

“They think they know who they might be, and are hopeful to locate at least one of the cars and some of the stuff.”

She said police told her they searched a home on Friday and recovered some stolen jewellery but it was not hers.