Boxing coach Zap De Jong’s van stolen

A Good Samaritan who coaches boxing to at-risk children for free has had the van he uses to drive the kids to and from training stolen.

Boxing coach Zap De Jong has been devastated after discovering his van was stolen. Source: Supplied by Zap De Jong

A Good Samaritan who coaches boxing to at-risk children for free has had the van he uses to drive the kids to and from training stolen.

Zap De Jong has used his 14-seater van to drive kids to his free boxing training, five nights a week, for the past 16 years.

Zap De Jong used his 14-seater van (pictured) to pick up and drop off kids to his boxing training five nights a week. Source: Supplied by Zap De Jong

The boxing coach parked the van outside his Wrights Creek home before going on a short trip to Brisbane last week to support one of his boxing prodigies – 24 year old Leah Reuben – in her third professional fight.

When Mr De Jong returned to Cairns on Thursday morning his 1998 white Toyota Hiace van had been stolen.

“Losing the van doesn’t mean much to me, it’s the kids who are missing out because I can’t pick them up and take them to training. That really upsets me,” Mr De Jong said.

“I pick them up and drop them home all around town — Edmonton, White Rock and all around Mount Sheridan.

“I rack up about 100km every night.

“I don’t charge them a cent, I just do raffles at the Bungalow Hotel every week to help pay for the fuel.

“But without the van we’ve had to cancel training.

“The kids are texting me everyday asking when training is going to be back on, they don’t understand.”

After being missing for five days, Mr De Jong’s van was found on Monday afternoon dumped on rail tracks.

Mr De Jong’s friend spotted the abandoned vehicle while walking his dog near the Greenpatch Campground in Gordonvale, more than 10km from where it was stolen.

Zap De Jong's stolen van was discovered by his friend on cane rail tracks near the Greenpatch Campground in Gordonvale. Picture: Supplied by Zap De Jong

A spokesman from the Queensland Police Service said an investigation was ongoing into the theft, and anyone who may have seen the vehicle between 25 April to 28 April is urged to contact Cairns Police.

“Obviously we’re very happy that the van has been found,” Mr De Jong said.

“But it’s pretty beat up, it had to be towed out of the cane tracks.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed, but the towing company told me it doesn’t look like it going to run again, so training is still cancelled until we sort something out.”

Zap De Jong with his Do It Boxing students. Source: Supplied by Zap De Jong

So far this year there have been 261 vehicles reported stolen within the Cairns area which is an increase of 20 per cent on the 216 cars stolen up until the end of April in 2024.

Mr De Jong founded Do It Boxing in 2009 to help at-risk children around Cairns find community and purpose through boxing.

Zap De Jong with his Do It Boxing students. Picture: Zap De Jong

Mr De Jong said the theft came just weeks away from a major Rockhampton boxing tournament that six of his students were training for.

“In three weeks time we planned to take (the students) to the Reef N’ Beef Fight Night Central Queensland Championships in Rocky,” Mr De Jong said.

Do It Boxing team. Picture: Supplied by Zap De Jong

“It’s really not come at a good time, to stop their training so close to a competition.

Mr De Jong’s son Daniel Zammit has started a GoFundMe to help fundraise a new van for Do It Boxing.

Originally published as Boxing coach Zap De Jong’s van stolen