A 44-year-old Euston man was arrested by police and remanded in custody in relation to a brazen burglary at Nyah West’s IGA store in the early hours of Sunday May 13.
Police attended the supermarket and located the man and his vehicle – which was used to force entry into the building- still at the premise.
Store owner Naresh Kalluir told The Guardian tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage was caused.
The man was captured on extensive CTV cameras that showed he spent almost an hour in total at the sites he damaged and stole from.
“First he tried to enter from the rear of the shop by driving his car into the roller door,” Mr Kalluir said.
“When that failed he went to a second roller door and was able to gain entry by using a metal bar to pry open the door and destroying it.
“Once inside he realised he was in a store room area and not the actual shop and he began damaging property including our camera and stole items such as hand towels.
“He then turned his focus to a forklift located in the store room and tried to start it, presumably to try to drive through the wall into the shop.
“Had he been successful, the whole building would most likely have collapsed onto him so he was very lucky he couldn’t start it.”
Mr Kullier has 16 video cameras set up in all areas of the supermarket including inside and outside the building. The surveillance footage shows the man’s frustration as he attempted to get into the store.
After realising he could not access the shop from the rear he returned to his vehicle and drove to the front of the shop on Monash Avenue. He then proceeded to ram into the old State Bank building now converted into a home two doors down. Owner Harry Schlegel was away for the night but again, video footage captured the man’s movements.
“He rammed into the glass doors with his car but the metal frames of the old bank are still in place and acted as bollards,” Mr Schlegel said.
“The glass is reinforced bank glass so while he caused extensive damage he was not able to penetrate it.
“It looked as though he then realised it was at the wrong building and he drove off up the road a bit and then came back.”
The man then backed his vehicle through the from window of the IGA supermarket and upon entering the building attempted to steal stock and breach the cash till.
“He was trying to pry open the cigarette counter without success but he did manage to damage it badly, Mr Kulluir said.
“He seemed to be very prepared because at one point he returned to his car and got an angle grinder and tried to cut locks.
“He also tried to force open the till without success but again caused damage.
“The clean up was huge, he made a real mess for no gain.”
This is the second time in a month that the Nyah West store has been targeted by thieves.
Mr Schlegel said it was the first time he had ever had the need to check the surveillance footage and what he discovered gave him chills.
“Had I been home things could have gone a lot worse because he was wondering around past my windows with his metal bar,” he said.
“If I had gone out to see what the noise was, God knows what he would have done.”
