What was a regular afternoon drive for Viviene Dewdney on Friday evening turned sour when she got a flat tyre on Osbourne Road, St Andrew and was robbed.

While the 75-year-old woman made preparations to replace the punctured tyre, a young man; whom she thought was helpful, rode up on his bicycle and offered his assistance, which she accepted.

But the kind gesture took an unexpected twist when the perceived helper stole the elderly woman’s purse.

“The purse was in the car, because I got the puncture and I went to take out the tyre from in the back and [was] busy. I suppose while I’m doing that he saw the purse in there, took the purse and then he rode off and said he’s gonna get somebody to come and help me pull the thing and then when I looked I realised the purse was gone,” Dewdney said.

Dewdney, who has accepted the incident, is now making an appeal to anyone who finds her bag to return it as she hopes to get back the contents of the purse.

“The money is not [important you can have the money but there are a lot of things in the purse – all my cards. I have already stopped the bank cards but like my health insurance, my other health cards, my TRN (tax registration number), my PriceSmart card and stuff like that,” she said.

“These things will be of no use to him so I suppose what he will do is take the money and throw the purse out. I’ve been going around the area, I’ve reported it to the Half-Way-Tree police station. But I’ve been going around the area in case anybody finds a purse after he throws it away and turn it in some place that I can at least get it back because I need the documents; it’s gonna take me a long time to get back these documents,” she continued.

The purse, which she described as small, is black with a flap on the outside and has four compartments on its inside.

If you find the purse you may contact Dewdney at 813 -2371 or 925-5287 or the Half-Way-Tree police station.