Christmas money lost in pie shop burglary
A brazen thief who snuck through a pie shop window to nab a handbag had his entire crime caught on video.
At 10.30am on Tuesday a man broke into Izzy’s Foodbar and Takeaway through an open window and stole a handbag containing a significant amount of money.
The thief was caught on the shop’s security camera making his way into the Devon St West store’s kitchen while two shop assistants were at the front helping a customer.
The man is wearing gloves and has what appears to be a crowbar in his back pocket.
The hanging bag was taken from a hook and within 15 seconds he was back out the window with the bag in hand.
Owner Craig Huffman said it ‘‘blew his mind’’ somebody could commit such an act in broad daylight while the workers stood only metres away.
It haunted him to think about what could have happened if the burglar was interrupted by staff during the act.
‘‘It’s all of those what ifs...there’s a wall of knives right there.’’
The victim, his employee, was left ‘‘very upset’’ by the theft.
She had lost all of her money she had saved for Christmas presents, as well as all of her identification, he said.
‘‘We gave her the day off so she could get her stuff sorted.’’
While Huffman is hoping the man will be caught, he also wanted to warn people to act vigilantly as Christmas approached.
‘‘What my major concern is, it’s not only catching this guy but also warning others that this low life and people like him are out there and they are brazen,’’ he said.
‘‘They don’t care. It’s not about putting bars on windows or having CCTV, because he clearly didn’t care about that it’s who will be the next target.
‘‘I’m thinking of little old ladies outside putting their clothes on the line while somebody sneaks in the front door.’’
The break in had been reported to police.