A woman has expressed her frustration after her two young nephews snuck into her bedroom and stole her £18,000 engagement ring before flushing it down the toilet - meaning it's now lost forever.
The woman said she doesn't wear her engagement ring all the time and instead keeps it in a drawer in her bedroom, opting only to wear it on special occasions.
But when her brother came over with his two sons - aged four and eight - the kids snuck upstairs when they weren't supposed to and got their hands on the ring, before flushing it down the toilet in a panic when they were caught.
Now, the woman, from Canada, is demanding her brother buy her a new ring at the same price as her old one - a staggering $30,000 Canadian dollars (£17,894).
In a post on Reddit, she said: "I hosted a family dinner over the weekend. My brother brought my nephews over as well.
"I used to wear my engagement ring all the time, but lately, I keep it in my walk-in closet and mainly wear it for special occasions. While I was cleaning up the dinner table, my nephews went to go play while the adults were still in the outdoor patio area. My brother was not supervising his kids.
"During this time, my nephews went into the master bedroom without anyone knowing and started playing with everything. Including my engagement ring. When we came to look for them, they panicked because they know they aren't supposed to be upstairs, ran into the master bathroom, and flushed my ring.
"We still had the original receipt [for the ring], so I called my brother. I emailed him a scanned copy as proof of the cost and asked him to reimburse me for the ring my nephew flushed. Immediately he started calling me an a**hole because we were family and he was just a child. He has refused to repay the cost of my ring.
"I told him I will be taking him to court for this and now my entire family is blowing up my phone saying family shouldn't sue each other and just let it go."
In a series of edits to the post, the woman explained the ring wasn't insured because her husband "forgot" to do it, and claimed her brother still hasn't actually apologised because he doesn't think he or his children should "be held responsible" for what happened.
She added: "I feel so distraught because my ring holds great sentimental value."
Commenters were firmly on the woman's side, as many of them said her brother should take responsibility since they're his children and he wasn't supervising them.
One person said: "His circus, his monkeys. He wasn't watching them, that's on him. 100% he should replace your ring.
"Also, eight and four are more than old enough to know better. My three-year-old knows not to touch someone else's things in their home without asking. Choices have consequences, and sometimes those consequences are expensive!"
While another added: "I would lose my s**t if this happened to me. I'm sorry but your brother needs to show a little more remorse and should be offering SOMETHING. I agree with others that he will never pay you back. But damn. Awful awful."
And a third posted: "His kids, his responsibility. They snuck into a room they knew they shouldn't be in, took something they knew they shouldn't, and then flushed it because they knew they were wrong. They knew. They weren't 'just kids playing'."
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