POLICE are investigating a break-in at The Beach House Providore in Valla Beach that took place at 1.45am on Saturday, June 12.

CCTV footage shows an intruder wearing a hoodie and gloves kicking the door in, and owner Jessica Waddell said the perpetrator took the till drawer, a chef’s knife and a bread knife, leaving behind other valuables, such as an iPad.

“He must’ve been really desperate to do that.

“We’re a little breakfast cafe, we don’t have money onsite.

“He did more damage than what he got,” she said.

“He didn’t just kick in the locks, he kicked in the whole door frame, so that will have to be rebuilt and we’ll have to get a locksmith in and redo some electrical work.”

She described the incident as “frustrating”, noting that it comes on the heels of a tough period for small businesses.

“We’ve had two floods, the fires and Covid, and now I’ve been robbed,” she said.

“It’s just a bit sad.

“Support small businesses, don’t rob them.”

Waddell said she hadn’t encountered any similar issues in the four years she’d been running her business in Valla.

“It was confronting because I didn’t expect it,” she said, adding that she appreciated how supportive the community had been on hearing about the break-in and that she wanted to spread the word to warn others.

“We’re a little community who look after each other,” she said.

“Everyone in Valla should know there’s someone out there doing this.”

Nambucca Valley Police acting inspector Anthony Smith said the intruder, whose face had been concealed, was not identifiable from the CCTV footage, but that police were waiting on the results of a forensic investigation of the crime scene.

“If they’ve left fingerprints or samples of DNA, we may be able to identify this person from that, but it takes some time to get those results back from the lab, it doesn’t just happen overnight,” he said.

No other incidents of a similar nature have been reported in Valla recently.

“Unfortunately these things happen from time to time but it isn’t common in that area,” Smith said.

“If anyone has any information, please contact the Nambucca Valley Police to assist our investigation into the matter.”

 

By Brooke LEWIS