Central Christchurch Shop Hit By Thieves For Third Time in Six Weeks

Waikura Linwood-Central-Heathcote Community Board Chair, Alexandra Davids, is calling on the Christchurch City Council to advocate better for its residents and business owners at a central government level.

Ms Davids says it is concerning to hear that a store in the CBD has been targeted by thieves for the third time in six weeks.

The owner of Maia Foods, Hitesh Sharma, says he is “devastated” by last Wednesday’s break in which resulted in around $7000 worth of damage.

“We work so hard to build up our business and we are feeling helpless,” he says.

Mr Sharma says the store was visited by police just after the break-in and were told they would return to fingerprint the scene but no-one has been back.

“I went to the police station yesterday to follow up and they advised me they have assigned someone to manage the case but there’s still been no fingerprinting, no visit to the shop and no-one has contacted me,” he says. “We have very clear security video of the thieves and we can see it’s the same people each time,” he says. “They know they can get away with it; they are so brazen.”

Alexandra Davids says people need to feel safe, and having a responsive police force is key to achieving that.

“We know the police are busy and we know they would come if they could but they seem to be under resourced and this has to be addressed,” she says. “I believe the city council – our councillors and mayor – need to be doing more in advocating for our residents and businesses at central government level. Unfortunately I don’t see this happening and it needs to,” she says.

Hitesh Sharma says the council has been excellent in dealing with tagging in the area via the CCC Graffiti Team but he agrees with Ms Davids that better advocacy is needed.

“These thieves leave a trail of destruction, including thousands of dollar’s worth of repairs, insurance excesses, stress, anxiety and sleepless nights. If police need more resourcing, this needs to be communicated by those who run our city to those who hold the purse strings in Wellington,” he says.

ENDS