Third burglary inside six weeks
Calls are being made for city leaders to advocate more for local businesses after burglars targeted one store three times in six weeks, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to get icecream and chewing gum.
Ma¯ ia Foods Christchurch was targeted last Wednesday for the third time since mid-May. Owner Hitesh Sharma believed the same perpetrators were responsible each time. ‘‘I have them on camera, they are the same guys,’’ Sharma said.
Sharma, who started the annual Holi Festival of Colours event, said he was ‘‘frustrated and devastated’’ by the break-ins, the latest of which resulted in about $7000 worth of damage. The thieves took only a few small items, like icecream and chewing gum, he said.
‘‘We work so hard to build up our business and we are feeling helpless.’’
Waikura Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board chairperson Alexandra Davids said it was concerning to hear a store in the central business district had been targeted by thieves three times in six weeks. The Christchurch City Council needed to advocate better for its residents and business owners, to get central government to do more to protect them, she said.
‘‘People need to feel safe and having a responsive police force is key to achieving that,’’ she said.
‘‘We know the police are busy, and we know they would come if they could, but they seem to be under-resourced and this has to be addressed.’’
Council leaders needed to lobby central Government for this, she said.
‘‘Unfortunately I don’t see this happening and it needs to.’’
Central ward councillor Jake McLellan said he raised the matter with council staff a month ago, as such crime was “corrosive to community”.
“What’s been successful in starting to address crime and anti-social behaviour in other parts of the inner city have been neighbourhood policing teams, which get more police out there in the community tackling offending at the root.
“I advocated for this approach in the Linwood village and now there are six police officers on the beat.”
A police spokesperson said police were making inquiries into a series of burglaries on May 11, May 12 and July 6 at a store in Cashel St. ‘‘In each case glass was broken to gain access to the store. In one of the burglaries [May 12] a small number of food items were taken,’’ they said in a written statement.
Sharma had tried to follow up with police but said there had been no fingerprinting, no visits to the shop and no contact from police. ‘‘I understand they are busy with other things but I am not sure what we are supposed to do, we are in a very vulnerable position,’’ he said.
Sharma now had a security guard at the shop, which added extra costs.
‘‘The first and second time I just did the repairs but by the third time I had to do something more,’’ he said.
Sharma said he was filled with anxiety over the repeated break-ins and their effect on the future of his shop. He thought the thieves might think the shop had cigarettes but he did not sell them.
It was good to know someone was calling for better advocacy, he said.
‘‘These thieves leave a trail of destruction. If police need more resourcing, this needs to be communicated by those who run our city to those who hold the purse-strings in Wellington,’’ he said.
‘‘We know the police are busy, and we know they would come if they could, but they seem to be under-resourced and this has to be addressed.’’ Alexandra Davids Waikura Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board chairperson