Exmouth Freemasons replace Matty Bakker’s stolen, torched mobility scooter

The Exmouth Freemasons has donated a mobility scooter to a local man after his previous one was stolen and torched last month.

The local Freemason group decided to ‘right the wrong’ after Matty Bakker had his scooter stolen on June 25, leaving him unable to freely get around town.

The group presented Mr Bakker with a new mobility scooter worth $5000 on July 22 with funds raised from their Containers for Change recycling program.

Exmouth Lodge master Matt Niikkula said the Freemasons are all about charity.

“So (we) are more than happy to use funds raised from the community to help out the community,” he said.

Exmouth police officer-in-charge Sergeant Craig Carter said the generosity of people in regional Western Australia never ceased to amaze him.

Sgt Carter said Exmouth was a special community.

He said around the same time the Freemasons had purchased the scooter, a Tom Price woman also called police and offered to donate her recently deceased father’s mobility scooter.

“Receiving the phone call and then finding out the Freemasons already jumped on board and everything had been done, those are the phone calls you get every now and then working in regional WA that makes me so proud to be part of the community,” he said.

“That was sensational rallying by regional WA and just shows you that regional WA people, we think outside the boxes, we’re definitely a different breed up here.”

Sgt Carter said locals are willing to help each other out in these small communities.

“I get tickled pink when I get phone calls like that, that really makes me proud,” he said.

Sgt Carter said the Tom Price woman was in Perth for the funeral when she looked on Facebook and saw a post about the mobility scooter being stolen.

“Her father had a brand new mobility scooter which he had hardly used, but needed to get around with before he passed away,” he said.

“So she actually rang us up here on the police station and offered to donate it free of charge to give it to the gentleman.”

Sgt Carter said the generosity by the Freemasons and the Tom Price woman showed how much small communities cared for each other.