Guards keep vigil

LUKE PARKER

HIS restaurant has been burgled six times in six weeks and Chris Sinclair has had a guts full.

The 51-year-old has owned Tony's in Henderson for the past 25 years and is no stranger to break-ins. But he's never had so many at once.

"It's just getting ridiculous," Chris says. "Over the past six weeks we've had on average one break-in a week."

The Te Atatu peninsula resident has CCTV footage of the burglaries and says they are done very quickly, with the offenders targeting alcohol. The last incident saw 30 bottles of wine and a few beers swiped on August 15.

"Following the first couple of burglaries we removed all the alcohol each night and locked it securely away as well as putting thick plywood panelling with a padlock over the beer fridges," he says. "They just put the boot in and literally kicked through it. Once they had broken the plywood, they picked up a glass water bottle and whacked through the glass doors. They then used a rubbish bin to load the bottles into."

The father-of-two says the last six weeks has seen around $1500 worth of wine stolen.

"It's soul destroying," he says. "You come in and the first thing you see is glass all over the floor and your stomach just sinks. You think: `Oh God not again'.

"It's really disappointing."

He believes some of the same offenders may be involved in the latest spate of break-ins.

"There is a female that looks to be of very similar in build and stature and the same entry point and procedure has been used," he says.

"They have also been done at around the same time – 1.15am to 1.30am," he says.Chris is now beefing up security at his premises.

"We've got onsite security guards now, so we're hoping that we'll catch them," he says.

"It's costing me money but my intention is to catch them. I'll have security here until we do."

Chris will also be replacing the plywood panelling with aluminium.

Call Chris Sinclair on 836-0889 or the Henderson police burglary squad's detective John Allen on 839-0617 if you have any information.

- © Fairfax NZ News