A Bermudian doctor who had two wedding bands that belonged to her parents stolen from her home and sent overseas to be melted down, is waiting for justice to be served.

And she has spoken out about the process of cash for gold in Bermuda, which she believes is flawed.

Dr Samantha Price, a general practitioner and qualified surgeon who lives in Southampton, returned from a trip abroad to find the rings had gone.

She and her husband were both away for a few days last year and had a housesitter until they returned. A few days after returning Dr Price noticed the two 14kt gold wedding bands, which once belonged to her parents Patricia and Nigel Price, were gone.

“I contacted the housesitter to ask if there was anybody that she had let in the house that she wasn’t 100 percent trusting of. She asked ‘What’s missing?’ and I told her some gold jewellery,” said Dr Price.

The housesitter, who had assured the couple beforehand that there would be no one else in the house while they were away, called back and said a man she had allowed in now claimed he had found some jewellery in a bag outside and had sold it to exchange company Gold Standard.

“He said he didn’t realise they had sentimental value and that he would get them back. He tried to get them back but was told that he needed the receipt. He went to go get the receipt and they said they would have to find it and tell him what was happening the next day,” she said.

Dr Price called Gold Standard three times in one day. “They said they weren’t telling me anything to protect their client’s confidentiality.”

She called the police, who subsequently informed her that the company had confirmed the jewellery had been sent abroad and melted.

The man responsible admitted the theft in Magistrates’ Court. He also admitted he sold the gold at Gold Standard in return for $360. He was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay the courts by the end of this month or serve 30 days in prison. He was also ordered to pay Dr Price the $360 he received for the goods by February 6. Dr Price is still waiting for the payment.

“My jewellery was stolen on a Friday, sold on a Saturday and gone, shipped out of the country by the following Wednesday or Thursday. [But} they say they keep gold received for a week,” she said.

“It’s difficult to say there should be some regulations, because who is going to be enforcing this? Is somebody going to be employed to double-check and make sure this particular piece of jewellery that gets brought in is still going to be there a week later?

“I understand it’s a business and people want to get paid, but so do the thieves. I want my jewellery back but that’s not going to happen is it?

“It’s such an easy avenue for thieves to sell stolen products. I’ve spoken to other people and I know of another couple who had jewellery stolen and shipped off in less than a week as well.”

She added: “The police were very helpful but I think that a lot of the fault has to do with the ease that this man could take valuables from my property, sell it, and think he was going to get away with it.”

Regarding the cash for gold process in Bermuda, she said: “I think they need to be more strict with regards to how they go about processing jewellery and protecting people who have had their jewellery stolen from being shipped off to be melted down.”

The incident left her feeling her home was violated but “fortunate because it hasn’t happened to her that much in the past”. A home security system has been installed.

She added: “I will screen my housesitters much better to have people I really know I can trust, and set the limits with regards to whose going to be in my house.”