An award-winning Wellington choir which has taken troubled children all over the world has itself become the victim of crime.
The 20 hard-won uniforms of the Kotuku Choir were stolen yesterday from the car of choir leader Sharon Thorburn, while it was parked outside her Karori home.
Ms Thorburn is shocked and dismayed at the theft.
"It makes me feel so hopeless. The ones we are trying to reach are the ones who have stolen them. It's like the very community we are trying to help have stolen from themselves," she told The Dominion Post.
Ms Thorburn said the stolen costumes had been made mostly from donated material and had been sewn by volunteers.
She said the choir had performances coming up over the next two months, but there was no way it could afford to replace the uniforms.
"No matter where the kids are from or what they had done in the past, those uniforms made them all the same.
"I don't know how to tell the kids they're gone."
