An Emergency Medical Technician has said he cannot believe someone smashed the window of his car while he worked a night shift.
Caolan Dooley had been on a run of night shifts with the NI Ambulance Service when he returned to where his car was parked at the ambulance station on the Hospital Road in Newry on Wednesday morning.
"I was finished at about 7.30am or shortly after it," the 26-year-old told Belfast Live.
Read more: Newry: Ambulance worker's car windows smashed while he was on shift
"My crewmate Declan had went up to the ambulance to get something he had forgot and I grabbed the keys and said that I would leave them back and he could head on.
"His car was parked right beside mine and next thing I was dropping one of my bags into the storeroom, I walked out of the station and he shouted over to me 'your window's been smashed!'."
Caolan said he thought initially that it would be the front windscreen, that some young people might have been messing around and thrown a stone from a nearby road.
He added: "But I went round and it was a proper smash of the rear passenger window - I was a bit shocked and was thinking that this was weird.
"I looked in the back seat and the front and there were was stuff sitting there, sunglasses and AirPods and all, nothing was taken.
"So I was thinking why would someone do that and not take anything?
"I was sort of thinking to myself at the start, 'Did I annoy somebody recently?' but then I realised it was that someone was trying to steal the car and that made a bit more sense.
"I noticed there were signs that someone had tried to pry the front door open."
The Newry man said he was disappointed that someone would show such little regard for healthcare workers, especially as his car was parked beside a sign which marked out the parking space for use by NIAS staff.
"My initial reaction was why would someone do this?," he said.
"You're out working all night and someone is obviously here trying to steal the car.
"We had maybe about a total of two hours in the station across the night and you wouldn't have noticed anyone out there, it's so quiet and there's no cameras on the station grounds."
He said the car had thankfully been fixed up by Wednesday evening, but that it had annoyed him that someone could be so callous.
"I don't know what it says about them, some people just don't care," he said.
"It is a bit frustrating because the car can be fixed but it's just more the principle of it.
"You're trying to pay bills and all and then this is just an unexpected bill on top of it all."
Caolan said he was wary of parking his car in the carpark again and the he had raised the issue of a lack of cameras to deter potential thieves, while also saying he didn't know what he would say to the person responsible if he had the chance.
"I don't know, I've no words really," he said.
"I wouldn't know what to say, that someone would go out and do that."
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