David Gogo is mad, and he and his parents are not mincing words.
The Nanaimo blues musician’s family owns Gogo’s Christmas Tree Farm, which has been a Vancouver Island institution for 90 years.
On Saturday, David’s 71-year-old mother Judy Gogo arrived home after a hard day of work on the farm — only to find a thief, or thieves, had broken in and ransacked it.
“Nothing quite says ‘Christmas in Nanaimo’ like a home invasion of a 71-year-old woman,” David said.
“Whoever’s doing it, they’re obviously worthless scum. They’ve got no pride. They just don’t care.”
Many of Judy’s belongings were either stolen or destroyed, with the culprit leaving a major mess behind.
“They threw stuff everywhere, there was broken glass all over the floor,” she said. “The jewelry box parts were missing. They even took the pillowcases off my pillows and stuffed them with full of things, so I’ll probably find out more stuff that’s gone.”
Patriarch Mike Gogo says investigators have told him the scene was a rare one to find in a break-in case.
“It’s one thing to go into someone’s house and steal it, no one likes that,” he said. “But to go in there and deliberately make a mess of someone’s property … it shows it was either a youth or quite a stupid youth.”
Nanaimo RCMP have not released a statement on the break-in, and have not said whether any suspects are in custody.
The Gogo family says property crime is a constant issue in Nanaimo. They’ve even tried to help bring justice to other victims.
Last November, Mike put up a reward for anyone who could find the suspects who broke into his friends Donald and Marie Biggs’ home.
In that case, one culprit assaulted Donald Briggs, who’s in his 70s, and tied him up. As that man kept watch over the bleeding senior, two others ransacked the home while Marie looked on, terrified.
The trio made off in the couple’s car with $50,000 in custom-made jewelry, bank and credit cards and other personal possessions.
But Mike says the crime didn’t end well for at least one of the suspects.
“He ended up chained to a bulldozer over at my mill,” he said. “I have no idea how he got there, but he does, and he’s apparently not saying too much.
“You know, we know the police do their jobs and they got a lot to do, but we — and when I say we, it’s a number of us people — we’re not going to put up with it. Not going to put up with it at all.”
That wasn’t the only home break-in Nanaimo saw last year: another family saw their home ransacked on Christmas Day.
Despite his own family being targeted this time, David says he’s not going to let this ruin his Christmas spirit.
“Whoever this idiot or collection of idiots are who decided to do this, I’m sure they’re so out of their minds on whatever they’re on that they don’t even know it’s Christmas,” he said.
—With files from Jordan Armstrong and Kristen Robinson
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