CALLOUS crooks have stolen quadbikes put up for sale by a cash-strapped Mossman family with a gravely ill toddler.

Thieves using bolt-cutters cut through a security gate and lock at Mossman Secondhand to steal two four-wheelers worth about $2500 on Saturday night.

The bikes, part of a set of three, belonged to the Molloy family, whose 21-month-old daughter Domeaka must undergo gruelling surgery in Brisbane next month to mend holes in her heart.

Yesterday, through tears, Mrs Molloy told The Cairns Post: "It's heart breaking. It was our last nest egg. We're shattered."

The theft came after financial struggles that have left mum Trisha, dad Anthony, and big sisters Taleah, 5, and Amaya, 13, crammed into a borrowed one-bedroom apartment as they care for the sick toddler.

Hopes of moving to a bigger home hung on the bike sale, they said.

"Every time we turn round and think we're getting ahead, we seem to get knocked back a peg," Mrs Molloy said.

Mr Molloy said that without cash from the quadbikes the family would continue to do it tough.

"We can't work for the time we're away," he said.

"You've got no income and the extra expense of being away."

But it is not the lost money that weighs heaviest on Mrs Molloy’s mind.

"There is a chance she (Domeaka) might not make it," she said." I don't want to have to say goodbye."

A distressed Ivan Diack, from Mossman Secondhand, appealed to the thieves to return the bikes.

"You know where you got them from," he said."Bring them back."

"It's a little girl and her family.

"It's really bad for them. They're distraught. They're depending on the money."

Share this article