Business Break-ins

ASSER House Cafe, Potter Macqueen and Elder’s Real Estate in Scone were all broken into sometime between Sunday at 8pm and early Monday morning.

The thieves broke into the Asser House Café via the side kitchen door, stole the nights takings, an EFTPOS machine and for good measure a can of coke and coke zero before gaining entry to Potter Macqueen by ripping an internal door from its hinges.

Once in Potter Macqueen they smashed cabinets, stole jewellery, bags to carry then stolen goods in and a small amount of cash.

At the other end of town, the window of Elder’s was smashed with a brick and the thieves took a jar of coins, attempted to open a safe and left the fridge and freezers open.

Annie Baker owner of Asser House Café said they were upset the business had been broken into but heartened by the communities reaction.

“They took my EFTPOS machine which is not insured and will cost $1,500 to replace and they can’t do anything with it but put it in the bin,” said Ms Baker.

“I never ever keep cash on the premises, but Jo had done a pizza night and I told her I’d come down and pick up the float, but I was in my pyjamas and decided I’d do it the next morning, I always pick up the float and it was the one time I didn’t,” she said.

“All the freezer and fridge doors were left open when they were looking for cash, but thankfully the ice-cream didn’t melt, they took all the lego lollies which they dropped next door to fill their bags with jewellery and they took some cokes too, it must be thirsty work,” mused Annie.

“The police were here within 15 minutes and half an hour later forensics were here for fingerprints, because they were already here doing Elder’s and the police were really helpful,” she said.

“The Commonwealth Bank said it could take seven days until they can give me another EFTPOS machine, which is just unacceptable, if it was metro I’d get it on the day and for the amount I pay in bank fees surely they can work something out, so they have said they will ‘escalate’ it,” she said.

“But all the love we got on our Facebook page it was so nice, so everyone can come down to buy a coffee so I can pay for another EFTPOS machine, but they’ll need to bring cash,” laughed Annie.

Prue Robertson at Potter Macqueen said they have never had so much jewellery stolen.

“They didn’t take all of the jewellery but they took the most expensive things that were locked in cabinets, like the Mexican silverware and pearls,” said Ms Robertson.

“They smashed cabinets and the finger print guys came but they must have worn gloves,” she said.

“They took a bone handled pate knife which was odd and took all of the lids off the small containers, I mean why would we put things in containers with lids on if we wanted to see them?

“We have to go through and change all of the locks on the building today,” she said.

“Insurance won’t cover all of the jewellery because there is a limit and I mean I am still going through the insurance process for the flood in January, so it’s not an easy process,” Ms Robertson said.

Identifiable brands that were stolen include Nero watches, Ironclay Mexican silver, Moko jewellery, Gulliver Jam jewellery and Leoni and Vonk.

At Elder’s they only had a jar of coins stolen and no other cash on the premises.

“They took a brick and smashed it through the window, so it’s the damage that is the costly part,” said Peter Sawyer from Elder’s.

“There were about 20 lots of keys on the ground and I was thinking why would they have done that?

“Then I realised they were all the old keys that look like they might fit the safe,” he said.

“We’ve got alarms but we had them turned off because we had a painter who was coming and going over the weekend and he was there at 4:30 on Sunday, but any other time we have the alarm system on and it is a deafening sound,” he said.

“They left the freezer open, but left half a case of beer on the fridge,” he said.

“I reckon it is people from away and they’ve come in on the train and they only took light stuff, if they were local they could have taken heavier things and thrown it in a car,” Mr Sawyer said.

There are closed circuit cameras near the Elder’s building and at the train station which are being investigated.

Local police were unavailable for comment.

Related stories:

• Farram’s Also Broken Into
• Security in Scone.