Burglary hat-trick hits hard
An Auckland suburb has banded together to help a cafe owner who was robbed three times in one night.
Rockys Restaurant & Cafe in Mount Albert was burgled on Sunday night, and thousands of dollars worth of items were stolen, including a laptop, two iPads, alcohol and $500 cash from the till and tip jar.
Owner RockyWarnakulasuriya said his wife, Jeevani Thusitha, screamed when she saw the broken glass and mess at the cafe on Mondaymorning.
Warnakulasuriya, who lives with Thusitha and their daughters Sophie, 9, and newborn Layla, said this was the third time they had been robbed in the three years his business had been running.
He said robberies were common in the suburb and the police needed to take stronger action against thieves.
Last year he installed security cameras after thieves stole the tip jar from his store on New Year’s Day and the previous year robbers stole the family’s passports and possessions from their home.
The security camera footage showed Rockys Restaurant and Cafe was robbed three times by a group of people on Sunday night.
Warnakulasuriya said the robbery added financial pressure on the family already struggling from the effects of Covid-19 on their small business, recent renovations at their home and the recent birth of their daughter.
‘‘When you run a small business, every day is unexpected. You live day by day. You don’t know what bill you’re going to get, how many customers.’’
He said while he had some rent relief during lockdown last year and he operated a delivery service, his revenue still dropped 20 per cent.
The robbery had affected the cafe’s Uber Eats business because Warnakulasuriya used the tablet to process orders.
‘‘We’re getting orders on Uber Eats but drivers are asking where we’ve gone.’’
A regular customer at the cafe, Renee Argyros, set up a Givealittle page to help the family earlier this week.
Argyros wanted to raise $20,000 for the couple to replace their laptops, restock their shelves, pay for a year of insurance, make the premisesmore secure, and hire staff to help Thusita, who was looking after her newborn.
In two days the page had raised close to $15,000 for the couple.
An emotionalWarnakulasuriya said the crowdfunding initiative was ‘‘oxygen’’ the business needed to recover from this ‘‘tough time’’.