Vincent Village shop owners weigh-in after man stabbed in centre on Thursday night

A Townsville shop owner has taken a different approach to solving the issues inside a crime-riddled shopping centre, as patrons react to a horrific stabbing which played out in front of their stores. SEE THE SHOCKING STATISTICS

A TOWNSVILLE shop owner has taken a different approach to solving the issues inside a crime-riddled shopping centre, as patrons react to a horrific stabbing which played out in front of their stores.

It comes after a 20-year-old man was stabbed after an alleged an altercation at Vincent Village Shopping Centre on Thursday night, and rushed to hospital to have surgery.

The centre has been the home of more than 147 offences in the last year, including theft and assaults, and almost 50 offences in the last six months.

But King’s Kebabs and Coffee owner Shaluka Samarakoon, who has been a victim of this crime himself, says it will take a village to solve these problems.

“These kids, I see a lot of them come in here and do crime, but not to me,” Mr Samarakoon said.

“I’m always telling them, ‘don’t steal from Woollies, if you want something, just ask me and I’ll buy it for you’.

“As an elder person, you have to teach them.”

RAP have a meeting at Vincent Village shopping centre car park. Picture: Zak Simmonds

The Vincent Village Shopping Centre has been the centre of multiple crimes in recent times, with 174 offences recorded at the centre alone in the last 12 months.

Despite the raft of crimes, and this week’s stabbing, most of the store owners and employees residing at the centre were fortunate enough to not be a victim of these statistics.

Teenage gangs at Vincent Village Shopping Center. Picture: Stewart Mclean

Mr Samarakoon, who moved to Townsville from Melbourne to buy the store in 2020, was one of the few who had, his glass front door was smashed a few months ago in an attempted break-in.

Cellarbrations at Vincent Village was robbed last year.

Luckily, a nearby worker noticed what was happening and spooked the person before he could get inside.

Mr Samarakoon said he has seen a different side to the children committing these crimes.

“These small kids … they don’t know what love is. They don’t know how important education is, how important it is for them to go to school.

“They’re just trying to survive in their community, and they think if they do these bad things they will survive and be a man, but they just need love.

“I’ll give them free things, drinks, chips, everything, because I’ve seen a lot of them struggling.”

According to Queensland Police data, most of these crimes were theft (56), followed by assault (29) and fraud (21) offences, along with a raft of others.

More notably, on December 16 a 42-year-old woman held a young shop attendant at knifepoint.

A few months earlier on August 16, three people robbed the Cellarbrations store and a shop keeper was assaulted.

Mr Samarakoon’s empathetic attitude has earned him the respect of the community, but he hoped more people would adopt it.

“The community is very close with me, I am respectful to everyone so they are respectful to me,” he said.

“I’m always trying to help them out but I know I can’t fix everything.

“If we all came together we could fix this problem.”

Bells Kitchen and Takeaway manager Lisa Woods said their cafe had never seen crime first hand.

“Crime is definitely around, but it’s not unlike any other shopping centre,” Ms Woods said.

“We have been really lucky, because we are right at the front with glass doors, but we have never had anything happen.”

Two other shop owners, who did not wish to be named, shared the same experience, saying they loved the centre, and their customers, and had never become victims.

Originally published as Vincent Village shop owners weigh-in after man stabbed in centre on Thursday night