A PAIR of would-be thieves found a way to wipe the smiles from the faces of Trevor Fredericks and Carmel Goldmsith when they broke into the couple's newly-reopened supermarket at Jamberoo on April 12.
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The attempted break-in comes on top of the fire, two armed hold-ups at their Kiama Downs store and three break-ins at their temporary store in Jamberoo in just 15 months.
The couple were reminded of the vagaries of owning a business when the store was broken into the same day it was officially reopened,
The original business burned to the ground in December 2012. On March 28 the gleaming new shop began trading. It was officially opened with much fanfare on April 12
At about 10.50pm that evening two unknown men forced a door in the store's underneath storage that will be used as a storeroom last Saturday night.
“It’s a real shame that this incident took the gloss off what was a sensational re-opening earlier in the day,” owner Trevor Fredericks said.
“Our CCTV cameras caught the action of two men, who we believe may have been attending a party in the hall next door, unsuccessfully trying to force the door into the back of the shop and then moving down the stairs and forcing open a door into the storage room, which at this stage still has left-over building materials.
“Thankfully as soon as the door started to open the alarm was triggered and they fled empty-handed.
“Probably the most disappointing part of the whole thing is that the CCTV shows a couple getting into their car facing directly at the shop and the men and drove away without raising the alarm.”
The attempted break-in comes on top of the fire, two armed hold-ups at their Kiama Downs store and three break-ins at their temporary store in Jamberoo in just 15 months.
“Surely our luck will change soon,” Mr Fredericks said with an air of resignation.
Mr Frederick's wife Carmel Goldsmith said she was very angry and disappointed when she learned about the break-in.
"I just think they should be held accountable,'' she said. "If they had have been able to get in, they would have taken something.
"It was just so brazen... One human being should not be able to do that to another human being.''
You can check out the images of the men on the Fredericks’ IGA Facebook site https://www.facebook.com/freddosiga?hc_location=timeline if you recognise the men call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.