Teenager 'devastated' by dog thieves months after losing sight (From Times Series)

Potters Bar teenager 'devastated' by dog thieves months after losing sight

1:50pm Wednesday 5th September 2012 in News By Chris Hewett

A Potters Bar teenager was left devastated when dog thieves snatched her beloved Chihuahua months after she was blinded during major surgery.

Clarice Stokes, of Cranborne Road, was bought  ‘Rocky’ by her parents in May while she recovered from an operation to relieve pressure on her brain that left her blind in one eye.

The 16-year-old tied the family pet outside Tesco Express, in Orchard Parade, at 5pm on Saturday, while she went in to buy chocolate bars for her two brothers.

But when she returned five minutes later, the short haired pure breed was gone.

Her mother Sarah Stokes, 39, said: “She was absolutely hysterical. She rang me and then her nan. She was shaking uncontrollably and asking people if they’d seen him.

“We bought her the dog to give her something to take her mind off the operation. She’s totally devastated.”

The family spent more than three hours scouring the area for their pet on Saturday evening before police obtained CCTV footage that showed Rocky being taken.

Oaklands College student Clarice was forced to undergo the potentially life-saving surgery due to a rare bone condition that led to pressure building up behind her eye.

Surgeons were unable to save her sight, leaving the teenager devastated, but Mrs Stokes says her daughter was over the moon when they bought Rocky.

She said: “She feels guilty. She’s lost her friend, her little companion. His little face would light up when she came into the room. She’s constantly worrying about him – we all are. We keep thinking we can hear him around the house – she’s going through absolute hell.”

The Stokes family bough Rocky for £650 and believe the motive of the owners could be to try and sell the nine-month-old puppy.

He is white with a brown nose and brown around his eyes. He has a bent tail and was wearing a blue harness with small white bones on at the time he went missing.

Mrs Stokes said: “I don’t know how these people sleep at night. How can they do something like this and have no regards for the consequences? I have no words for them – I’m just in shock.”

Police have released a CCTV image of a man they would like to speak to in connection with the incident.

Anyone with information can telephone Barnet Police on the non-emergency number 101.