The thief who pretended his car had broken down at the Weston Creek Men's Shed, rammed into a good Samaritan's car and fled with the shed's power source has given workers a "kick in the guts".
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The Men's Shed's manager Allan Booth said a member of the neighbouring Eternity Church was assisting with a youth meeting at the church on Sunday night when he saw a man trying to load a generator into his car outside the shed.
Likely sensing that the church member was becoming suspicious, the thief said he was moving the generator from one Men's Shed to another.
He then claimed that his car had broken down and asked the church member to lend him some jump leads, Mr Booth said.
"So the fellow from the church went back to the car to get some jump leads and while he is walking back to the car he rang me because he knows me and became suspicious," Mr Booth said.
"That's when he saw the fellow [thief] start the vehicle so he drove his car to block the exit. The fellow [thief] didn't stop and drove straight through and took the front off the church member's car, also damaging his own car."
The thief left with about $3500 worth of stolen power tools, batteries and a generator, which powers the shed's lighting.
Mr Booth was shocked that the "brazen" thief smashed the good Samaritan's car and devastated that he stole from the shed, which is a workshop that brings skilled and unskilled men together to build items over a cup of coffee.
"It is disturbing for the men who do the work," Mr Booth said.
"They are dedicated to the shed and when this happens it can be a kick in the guts."
He said the theft will have a huge impact on the shed's 22 members who will have to pay the insurance excess and would delay their work repairing disability aids for Disability ACT.
"The generator is the only source of power for lighting in the shed and for powering the tools, so it is going to hold up the work we can do until we can get the power back on," he said.
"I have been offered a generator from a friend, but what the capacity is I don't know. It could be a couple of weeks until we sort it out."
ACT Policing said on Tuesday that they were called to the Men's Shed on Sulwood Drive in Kambah at about 7pm on Sunday.
They confirmed that a man had stolen Ryobi tools, batteries and a generator from the shed and fled after crashing into a car driven by a person who was helping the man jump-start his car.
Police are seeking witnesses to the burglary, describing the thief as caucasian, about 180cm tall (5'11"), 45 years old, unshaven with dark coloured hair with a solid build.
"He was wearing a grey hooded jumper with a white shirt underneath, white shorts and sneakers," their statement read.
"He was driving a black Jeep Cherokee with ACT registration beginning in YEP, and which is also likely to have significant front end damage on its right side."
