Gayndah retirees left with $30,000 damages after property left ‘condemned’

Good Samaritans who loaned a property in an act of kindness are devastated after they say a couple trashed their home and even defecated in their tank before leaving the property in a condemned state.

When a young man doing odd jobs for Alan and Shirl Mimi told them he and his girlfriend had no place to live, the generous couple did not hesitate to offer up their property in Turkey Beach, Gladstone, which they’d built for their retirement.

Just six weeks later they started to become concerned after receiving calls from neighbours about a foul stench coming from the property.

The Gayndah couple asked the council to check up on the place, only to be told their lovely beachside property had been condemned.

Mrs Mimi said she rang the young occupants and asked them to leave, since it was not safe for them to be living in a condemned house.

She said the couple initially resisted before leaving under the cover of darkness, but not before inflicting $30,000 worth of damage to the generous retirees’ property.

“It was just terrible. I don’t think they ever washed up while they were there,” Mrs Mimi said.

“They had their dirty clothes lying everywhere, they’d thrown broken glass everywhere, scratched up the polished floor, thrown rice into everything – into the cupboards, behind fridges and cupboards. It was just disgraceful.”

The Mimis said the couple also slashed tyres, put water and poison in the tractor diesel, stole a compressor, broke the washing machine and furniture, put holes in doors, broke toilets.

Perhaps most disturbingly, the retirees say the couple defecated in the water tank and urinated on all the mattresses.

Mrs Mimi said she later discovered the couple didn’t have a place to live because they inflicted similar damage at the last residence they stayed at in Gayndah.

“I've never seen anything happen like that before. I know it does, but I never thought it would happen to me,” Mrs Mimi said.

The damage won’t be covered by insurance, so the Mimis will have to fork out their own hard-earned dollars to repair the property.

Close friend Amanda Wenck said the Mimis are the kind of people who’ll bestow so much kindness on others and never ask for anything in return.

Ms Wenck started a GoFundMe page for the generous couple, which can be found by heading to the GoFundMe website and searching ‘Let‘s show Alan & Shirl they are loved and valued’.

“They’ve worked so hard for every cent they have and I don’t want them to feel like they have to sell their property because of this,” Ms Wenck said.

“I want them to know that people see their kindness.”

Police are currently investigating the incident.