The owner of Whangārei’s Destination Dairy and his family spent a scary night at home overnight on Monday/Tuesday after a thief smashed his way into their store and stole lollies, causing about $10,000 worth of damage. Photo / NZME
The owner of Whangārei’s Destination Dairy and his family spent a scary night at home overnight on Monday/Tuesday after a thief smashed his way into their store and stole lollies, causing about $10,000 worth of damage. Photo / NZME
The owner of a Whangārei dairy and his family spent a scary night at home after a thief smashed his way into their store and stole lollies - causing about $10,000 worth of damage.
Destination Dairy owner Jayesh Patel wants to see harsher penalties for robbers and burglars who target stores after the upset caused to he and his family from the Boxing Day night burglary.
Patel said the family was asleep about 11.30pm on Tuesday when he heard something crashing into the front of his store, on Ewing Rd, Whangārei.
He looked on the CCTV screen and saw that a man had smashed his way through the front door and had grabbed some lollies. He said the man may have then realised there were people in the home behind the store and took off before stealing anything else.
Patel said he called police, who were quickly on the scene, and he believes that they have now caught the alleged offender.
But the experience has left he and his family scared and he is worried about the damage it has caused to his business and family.
‘’He smashed through the door and stole some lollies. About $50 worth, and for what? It will cost about $10,000 to get a new strong door and replace and repair everything.
‘’All that damage for a few dollars worth of lollies. It’s crazy.’’
Patel said he and other business owners worked hard to keep their stores going during some pretty tough times and thieves were showing no respect for their efforts to provide a service for their local communities.
‘’My local community here are beautiful people, so friendly and I do all I can to help them too,’’ he said.
‘’We are all hard-working people running our stores as well as we can and we don’t need things like this happening, but what’s the punishment for them?’’
Destination Dairy owner Jayesh Patel wants to see harsher penalties for those who rob shops after his store was targeted in a late night burglary on Boxing Day. Photo / Jaime Lyth
Patel said he hoped the man responsible would get a harsh penalty, including prison time and reparation for the damage he caused, when he appeared in court, but he was not holding his breath.
‘’They do this because they know there are no consequences for them. The law is really weak about this. The police they came, and they were very good, but the courts just let these people go with no real punishment so they come out and do it again.
‘’They are too soft on them and the parents also should be held responsible too if they are children. Parents should be made to pay for the damage their children do then that may get them to stop their kids behaving like that.’’
Police would not comment on the burglary unless it got a privacy waiver from Patel to discuss the case with the Northern Advocate.
This Government’s recent announcement on youth crime provided an extra $2m for community support programmes in Northland, along with three other regions, to help young offenders.
Statistics released at the time showed the number of ram raids on Northland businesses were starting to decrease since a large increase this year.
Government statistics showed 23 ram raids in Northland in 2022, until November 20. There was just one ram raid in November and one in October, down from three in September and four in August.
The biggest spike was June, when nine ram raids were recorded. Nationally, as of November 21, there have been 526 ram raids this year, nearly half of which were in Auckland.
The main focus of the Government’s announcement on youth crime earlier this month was on fast-tracking interventions for serious offenders aged 10 to 13, so a plan could be put in place to deal with their offending within 24 to 48 hours. However, this would initially only be rolled out in Counties Manukau and Waitakere, not in Northland.
Last month Northland dairy owners who are fed up with fearing for their lives are calling for stronger youth laws and punishment to stop aggravated robberies against their businesses closed their doors as part of the nationwide “vigil” for slain Auckland dairy worker Janak Patel. Patel, 34, was fatally stabbed following an alleged aggravated robbery at the Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham, Auckland.
A universal feeling of hopelessness was clear from dairy owners who closed their doors across Whangārei on November 28 in protest at the death.
