Darwin crime: Hanuman restaurant managers suffer through 15th break-in

Staff at a popular Darwin restaurant are searching for answers after managers were forced to barricade its entrance after the eatery was targeted for the 15th time.

Marie Pernito and Christhian Gonzalez improvised to save their restaurant from further destruction.

Marie Pernito and Christhian Gonzalez are searching for answers after their Darwin restaurant was broken into for a 15th time in six years.

On Tuesday the managers of Mitchell St’s Hanuman restaurant had gone home for some much needed rest.

But shortly after midnight, an alert forced the pair out of bed.

“I got a notification to say someone is in the restaurant bar,” Ms Pernito said.

“ (Christhian) and I decided to go straightaway and when we got here the alarm was already going off and the (offenders) were not there anymore.”

Popular restaurant Hanuman after it was targeted by offenders.

The offenders used rocks to shatter their way through the entrance, leaving a trail of broken glass in their wake.

With sunrise more than four hours away, Mr Gonzalez said the pair had to get creative if they were to deny opportunists coming back for seconds.

“We improvised, we put a table against the broken glass so no one can get in and we spent an hour trying to secure the door properly,” he said.

“I was checking the cameras and hoping that what we did was good enough to hold the glass and nobody else was going to get in.”

Mr Gonzalez said despite the restaurant’s latest hit, the venue had it “pretty good” compared to other Top End eateries.

“If this happens to us, imagine what happens to other places,” he said.

Managers Christhian Gonzalez and Marie Pernito of Hanuman (front), flanked by Opposition leader Lia Finocchiaro and CLP MLA Marie-Clare Boothby (back left) as they address a press conference. Picture: Harry Brill.

Leader of the Opposition, Lia Finocchiaro and Marie Clare-Boothby visited the venue on Wednesday afternoon to check in on staff – the first time in years elected officials had visited the small business, according to Mr Gonzalez.

For Mr Gonzalez, however, it’s not just the venue that needs protecting, but his customers as well.

“During service times we get a lot of people walking in to steal things (and) the staff pretty much need to face those things to protect the customers,” he said.

“It’s frustrating to know that we work so hard here to make our customers happy and put our effort behind each customer we have here and then these kinds of things happen.”

Originally published as Darwin crime: Hanuman restaurant managers suffer through 15th break-in