Thousands of dollars in damage was caused to the Otonga Rd Bottle-O store during the ram raid. Video / Supplied
The owners of a Rotorua liquor store targeted by thieves four times in just over a year say generally a harder line should be taken on ram raiders, who are getting “a slap on the hand” for their crimes.
The couple, who own the Otonga Rd Bottle-O store, were woken from their sleep early yesterday morning when an alarm sounded alerting them to a ram raid at their business.
They quickly checked the store’s security cameras, which are linked to their home, and saw four or five masked men had reversed a car backwards into the store, smashing the front door and window.
CCTV footage of the thieves shows one of them filming the ram raid on a mobile phone.
The young couple who own the store, who did not want to be named, told the Rotorua Daily Post they got home from work at 10pm on Tuesday, cooked dinner and went to bed about midnight.
At 3.45am, the alarm went off and they had to rush to their business.
The damage inside the Otonga Rd Bottle-O store. Photo / Andrew Warner
The thieves stole cigarettes, two bottles of whiskey and a till, which didn’t have much money inside as the takings are cleared daily. Thousands of dollars in damage was caused.
CCTV footage, which has been handed to police, shows a small dark blue car ramming the front roller doors twice before five people, who appeared to be youths, entered the store. They removed bottles of alcohol and drawers containing cigarettes. Some of the bottles smashed during the robbery and liquor spilled on to the footpath amid broken glass.
The footage shows one of the offenders filming the raid on a mobile phone, holding a stolen bottle of alcohol in his hand while filming his associates going in and out of the store in the background.
The thieves put all of the stolen items in another car that was parked nearby and left the scene in just over a minute. The car used in the ram raid was left behind.
The female owner of the store said dealing with the aftermath of the raid was the most upsetting part.
They had to guard their premises until daylight and then ring around trying to find companies that could repair the damage as they weren’t able to open until it was fixed.
She said police arrived immediately and sent a forensic team to carry out fingerprinting.
The couple have owned the business since December 2022. Within the first month, they had someone pull a knife on them inside the store and then had an attempted ram raid.
Before this week’s raid, a group of would-be thieves had tried to break into the back of the liquor store off Old Taupō Rd on Saturday January 27 by trying to drive a stolen car through their roller doors.
The thieves were unsuccessful because there were roller doors on the outside and inside of the back entrance, making it impossible to break through.
The owner said she and her husband could not let the crimes put them off working.
“What do you do? It’s your business, you have invested money in it. We are trying to pay off a loan - it’s not like you can’t just lock your doors and walk away. We are both under 30 and you don’t have a lot of people under the age of 30 who own their own businesses. It’s not easy.”
She said police had been great and arrived quickly.
Damage at the The Bottle-O Springfield on Otonga Rd after a ram raid. Photo / Andrew Warner
“But they need more authority to deal with it.
“(Generally speaking) when they catch them, they are too young. All they get is a slap on the hand because they’ve had a bad upbringing but when does that bad upbringing stop?”
After the attempted ram raid in December 2022, the couple installed bollards out the front of the store to prevent further ram raids. However, because they were not permitted to put the bollards further out on to the footpath, the thieves managed to reverse a car on an angle between them, with the boot open in a way that it still smashed the front window.
Police have confirmed a stolen vehicle was used in the ram raid.
A spokesman said another vehicle was used as a getaway car and they couldn’t yet confirm if the second vehicle was stolen. He said they couldn’t disclose any further details at this stage.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
