Paralympian Karni Liddell feels ‘violated’ after custom tricycle stolen

A Paralympian says she has been “violated” after a thief broke into her secure carpark and stole her custom-made tricycle.

A Paralympian who had her specially designed mobility equipment stolen says she is exhausted and is pushing for harsher penalties to combat rising crime rates.

Thieves broke into the secure carpark of swimmer Karni Liddell’s Kangaroo Point home in Brisbane over the weekend, cut the bolts to her electric tricycle, removed the location AirTag and dragged it away.

They left behind a skateboard and pair of jeans, a clear sign Liddell said showed they didn’t care about getting caught.

It’s the second time Liddell has been targeted in less than a year, with thieves taking her accessible car and trashing her electric wheelchair in October last year.

She said the people responsible were stealing her “independence”.

Paralympian Karni Liddell says thieves are stealing her independence. Picture: Liam Kidston

“A white, I would say, mid-20s guy came into our secure carpark Saturday night on a skateboard and cut through with a grinder, whatever you call it, my bolt-proof safe lock,” the swimmer told Channel 9’s Today show.

“There are a lot of other normal bikes down there … but he chose for some reason my electric trike.”

Liddell said it would have been hard for the thief to get away with the trike without a key as it was “really heavy”.

Liddell is devastated by the theft. Picture: Instagram

Her tricycle was stolen from her secure garage. Picture: Instagram

“I need that trike because obviously I can’t ride a bike. I also can’t get around this area because it is so hilly, that’s why I have an electric trike,” she said.

The Paralympian said she had “empathy” for young people doing it tough because of her social work, but it was “not cool” to trash her mobility devices.

Liddell said she didn’t want to be called “unlucky” and felt unsafe in the area.

“I feel unsafe, I feel violated, I don’t think I can keep my wheelchair safe in my car,” she said.

The social worker said she would now have to pay for an occupational therapist to prove to the NDIS that she had a disability and get the trike replaced.

Liddell says she feels ‘violated’. Picture: Instagram

The tricycle was locked up and bolted in her secure garage. Picture: Instagram

But Liddell said she didn’t think she had it in her to go through all the paperwork again.

“I won’t be getting any trike because I don’t have it in me to fill out the form, I don’t have it in me to fight the NDIS and prove I’m disabled,” she told the morning show.

She is pushing for a reform in crime laws so people who steal wheelchairs and special mobility equipment are hit with stronger consequences.

Liddell said kids who get involved in these thefts shouldn’t be let off with probation, as they could be “really bad criminals” down the track.

“Come in and feel like what it is like to be in a wheelchair, feel like what it is like to lose stuff, come and sit in the trenches with us for a few months,” she said.