A HEARTLESS thief who nicked a defibrillator from Wedderburn Mechanics’ Institute Hall had his conscience pricked and HAS returned the life-saving equipment.
Hall committee members had started talks last month on raising more than $2000 to replace the public AED.
Days later, the defibrillator had been returned ... no questions asked.
“There was an eagle-eyed local resident who saw the theft taking place. He told the thief, return it and there’ll be no questions asked,” said hall committee member and local ambulance volunteer Dede Williams.
“Then the defib reappeared, was handed to one of our committee members and is now back  and publicly accessible at the hall.
“Shows that a conscience can beat misguided actions of a thief.”
Dede said the defib had originally been installed after receiving a Loddon Shire grant.
“With all the events held in the hall, we wanted to have a public AED at that end of town,” she said.
“Whenever it is used to save a life, Ambulance Victoria replaces the pads, recognising the value of defibs in community spaces.”
Ambulance Victoria has an online database of publicly-accessible defibrillators for people to use during an emergency.
The online resource registermyaed.ambulance.vic.gov.au/find-an-aed can be searched by town or postcode.