A Nanaimo family is trying to regain a sense of normalcy, after returning from a recent vacation to the Yukon to find their home violated.
When the Greenways got home on Sunday from a 20-day trip they found their home trashed.
Many of the family’s belongings had been dragged into the front yard, while the interior of the home was badly damaged.
“He went through all of our food, he stole a bunch of the dishes, broke things, the fridge was horrific,” Allison Greenway told Global News.
“For my husband, (the worst part) was finding our marriage certificate torn in two — they stole his wedding ring, that’s gone. For me it was finding (our kids’) stuffed animals with their voice boxes cut out — we make those for them every year.”
More unnerving: someone had been sleeping in the children’s beds.
Family friends immediately stepped up to book the family a hotel.
But the family got a nasty shock when they returned to check on the house, only to find the alleged vandal and squatter had returned.
That led to a call to Nanaimo RCMP, who responded with multiple officers and a K9 unit.
“(They) found the individual hiding inside the children’s closet,” said Nanaimo RCMP Const. Gary O’Brien. “So explain that to the children. They’re ages one to eight.”
O’Brien said the suspect, 47-year-old Sean Damian Kunai, is well-known to police and “has a propensity for violence, he’s known to carry weapons.”
He is now facing a charge of break and enter.
The community has since stepped up in a major way for the Greenways, offering a slew of donations including new beds for the kids.
A GoFundMe campaign has also been set up to help the family, who did not have renters insurance, cover costs.
It’s a silver lining to a traumatic experience that Greenway says she won’t soon forget.
“This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to us, but at least it happened to us here, where our friends and family are,” she said.