A teenager selling Mother's Day flowers by the roadside has been allegedly robbed in broad daylight by an opportunistic thief.
Charlotte Delemare, 14, has been selling flowers every Mother's Day for the past six years, starting when she was just eight years old. On Saturday she set up her stall with her dog Honey on a Cardiff street near her home, hoping to bring a bit of joy and colour to mothers waking up on Sunday morning.
"She has always been interested in making money," Charlotte's mother Melissa Delemare said. "When she was six she sold mulberries off our tree. My grand-dad used to grow chrysanthemums, and before every Mother's Day he'd go and cut them and bunch them all up and sit in front of the house and sell them for $2 a bunch."
Ms Delemare said when she saw a local farm selling the flowers, she knew Charlotte would love it. "She has done it every year in the same spot and people come through each year," she said.
Charlotte, who also works at a local cafe, is already saving for her first house and sells her own candles. Ms Delemare said that she would park her car nearby so that Charlotte could get out of the sun or weather during the day.
Unfortunately, the enterprising teen's display was taken as a chance for an opportunistic thief. They took the moment to break into Ms Delemare's mother's vehicle while it was parked nearby, stealing a handbag without Charlotte noticing.
Ms Delemare said Charlotte had been in her spot for five hours before she was approached by a good Samaritan who said she saw a man crouched by the car as they were passing. "I was on my way back up the road with another batch for Charlotte and I could see her talking to a lady and she looked panicked," Ms Delemare said.
The lady told them she had seen the man going through their car before taking something out and riding past Charlotte. Ms Delemare alleged the thief took off with her handbag which had some cash and membership cards inside. She said that her daughter was left shocked by what had happened.
"She was a bit unsettled that it happened so close to her without her noticing, she only saw him ride past," she said. "It is such a nice community so it's a bit of a shock, nothing has happened before."
A NSW Police spokesperson confirmed that they were investigating a number of car break-ins and thefts in the area. Ms Delemare said the incident would not put her daughter off returning next year with her bunches. "She will be there every year," she said. "Every year we buy her more and she just sells out again and again." She said her daughter's plan, after she buys a home at 18, is to buy a coffee van and travel Australia with her business in the back.
