CBD crime: Cakeshop, pub, cathedral hit in Napier vandalism

Police are investigating at least three attacks on buildings in the Napier CBD early on Wednesday morning.

In separate incidents, targeting front entrances, with no entry gained and all thought to be between 3am and 4am, a man using a rubbish bin smashed a window at fledgling business Cuteney’s Cakes in Dalton St, while a beam was smashed into a window at The Rose Irish Pub in Hastings St and another window beside the Brown St entrance of Waiapu Cathedral.

CCTV captured two of the offences being committed, but it was not clear if the same person was involved or if the incidents were related.

Boutique cake-shop proprietor Courtney Booth has had her business up and running just four months and was stunned when she was advised of the damage, but ultimately asked “Why ?” when it became apparent that the hit, by an apparently shoeless man at 3am, appeared to be nothing other than a random assault by an angry man.

The scene on Wednesday morning in Dalton St, Napier after Cuteney’s Cakes was the target of early-morning vandalism. Photo / Caron Copek

It was to have been the shop’s first Wednesday open, a trial run for Valentine’s Day next week, and the doors were closed for the day. A recent ram-raid victim provided their no-longer-needed boarding-up frame to cover the frontage until a glass firm had the window replaced by mid-afternoon.

The cake shop would reopen for its market-friendly midday-8pm hours on Thursday. It opens 10am-9pm Friday and Saturday, with a 6pm closing time on Sunday.

Images showed a man peering through the window then smashing a council bin into the window and walking away.

“The glass is really thick and the wheelie bin isn’t even broken,” Booth said.

CCTV also captured the incident in Hastings St, and the breaking of the glass at the cathedral was discovered when office staff arrived.

Police confirmed the three incidents had been reported, and that it did not appear entry was gained to any of the premises. Inquiries to determine the circumstances and cause of the damage were continuing.

The incidents follow other incidents in the CBD, with calls for increased security measures to protect businesses.