BREAK-INS at two local businesses and a suspected attempted break-in at a third were reported to police in the days following the June 12 break-in at The Beach House Providore in Valla Beach, which News Of The Area covered in last week’s paper.

There was an attempted break-in at tobacco shop TSG Nambucca Heads just after 4.30am on Monday, in which a window was smashed but nothing was stolen, while Nourish Cafe & Grocer in Valla Beach was broken into just after 1am on Tuesday, June 15, and Nambucca Heads Island Golf Club was broken into about 12.30am on Wednesday, June 16, according to representatives of the businesses.

Nourish Cafe & Grocer owner Kat Honor said CCTV footage capturing two people breaking in had been handed over to the police, and that the intruders had taken the cash trays from the till, an iPad and all of the store’s tobacco products.

“They forced the side doors.

“They’re double doors with deadlocks but they really went at them,” she said, adding that she is now installing additional locks, security lighting and cameras.

Honor said break-ins in Valla were “unusual” but that her business had been targeted in the past.

“We’ve been here about seven years and we’ve had two break-ins before that were about a year apart but we haven’t had anything for about three years,” she said.

“We’re all good, we just try and get on with it. It’s frustrating but it’s part of life, I guess.

“There’s always someone who wants to take the easy way.”

Nambucca Heads Island Golf Club manager Johnathon Zirkler said CCTV footage had captured two people breaking into the venue and that he’d arrived after a security alarm was triggered to find a Keno machine on the floor.

“They did more damage to the Keno machine and the door than what they took,” he said, adding that the intruders had taken about 10 bottles of alcohol but “dropped most of them as they were trying to get out”.

“They’re not really trying to achieve much, they’re just doing it,” he said.

“I don’t think it’s a spree or anything, I think it’s probably a couple of kids.”

He said break-ins weren’t a common enough occurence to be a major concern for the venue but that security measures had been increased “to keep an eye on things” in the wake of the incident.

Nambucca Valley Police acting inspector Anthony Smith said investigations were continuing and it was “unhelpful” to speculate at this stage on whether the cases were linked.

Dispelling rumours of a break-in at a residential property in Valla Beach within the same period, Smith said police had attended a home in Max Graham Drive while investigating an unrelated matter, which he declined to comment on.

As of the time of this issue going to print, Smith said no further break-ins of a similar nature had been reported in Nambucca Heads or Valla Beach.

“Since the 16th, things have gone very quiet,” he said.

“If you have knowledge of this matter, please contact the police.”

 

By Brooke LEWIS