Moreton Bay shop, Aussie Rooster, left with damage bill after thief takes off with $1200

The owner of a popular takeaway shop north of Brisbane says she feels violated after the fourth break-in since 2019 left her thousands of dollars out of pocket. WATCH THE VIDEO

Footage has emerged of a thief’s brazen break-in at a popular Moreton Bay takeaway shop, where they pried open the safe with a crowbar, leaving the business thousands of dollars out of pocket.

The CCTV footage shows an unknown person broke into Aussie Rooster at the Peninsula Fair Shopping Centre at 1.33am on November 2, breaking the glass front door before stealing $1200 from the safe.

The shop’s owner Ann Madasdy said the footage showed the break-in, which was the shop’s fourth in four years, went for six minutes.

Damage forced the business to close for repairs on November 3.

Ms Madasdy said she understood the break-ins happened up to twice a year under the previous ownership.

The damage to the Aussie Rooster front door after the break-in.

“They only got a little bit of cash but they smashed a window, broke parts of the door,” she said.

“Immediately there’s $1000 gone.

“Police attended the site and said they can’t do anything for us, I had to lodge it all online.

“I’m in shock, really annoyed to have to go through and it’s not a two-second job to lodge an incident online, it takes a fair bit of work.

“I rang my insurance company and obviously I can’t trade for the day, so there’s another $3000 lost from no trade.

“The whole thing is a lot to go through, it’s stressful.”

The safe was pried open with a crowbar.

Aussie Rooster has been in Kippa-Ring for 40 years and the first break-in under Ms Madasdy’s ownership happened in October, 2019.

In November 2021, she was working late and as she locked up came face-to-face with a man in the alley way, when he tried attacking her after she asked him to leave.

The man then smashed parts of her car and the incident forced centre management to install a gate behind the shop.

Aussie Rooster has been in Kippa-Ring for 40 years and there’s been community support for the store following the break-in.

“There’s a lot of desperate people looking to make a quick buck,” Ms Madasdy said.

“My husband and I have improved the security in the store, putting an extra security screen at the back and the shopping centre installed a back gate in the alley way.

“There’s nothing around in the shopping centre for anybody to be watching or see that it’s going on anyway.

“It’s really open and easy for people to walk pass and just smash a window or door.

“It’s not just about the money that’s been taken, it’s about the violation that somebody targeted you, came into your shop and stole your things and we’re left to clean up the mess.”

A silver lining from the incident has been the community support after an off-duty police officer made a post on a community Facebook group, asking people to support the shop.

“Everybody was so supportive and sympathetic the next day,” Ms Madasdy said.

“Customers coming past, the genuine look of disbelief that these things are happening in our small community.

“Thursday honestly, I had so many new customers.

“It was amazing that out of something like this happening, they are so many people who get around and support you.”

A Queensland Police Service spokesman said they were investigating the break-in.