Exclusive by Patrick Avenell
The owner of the Parkes Retravision store hit by brazen thieves last week has spoken out today about how daring and calculated the thieves were. Ian Westcott spoke to Current.com.au this afternoon, describing how the attack took place, and to offer some advice to other retailers.
“They basically smashed the door in, waltzed in, waltzed out, had a field day,” said Westcott. “It was at 2:50 in the morning…I wasn’t notified by security until 5:20.”
“There was s… everywhere. They basically were pretty brazen. They smashed the bottom part of the door out and took screens 40-inch and smaller that would fit through there and went to a display that had iPods and portable DVD players and smashed the cabinetry and poured it into a box or bag and headed off.”
Despite being the victim of such a cowardly and destructive attack, Westcott proved he would not be oppressed by criminals, opening the store up almost immediately to continue trading for the residents of Parkes.
“It’s very hard, I haven’t got the IT that I lost – I lost a fair bit of IT, laptops and stuff. I haven’t been able to get hold of that – it’s very hard to get hold of.
“I got another shipment of iPods in, and portable DVDs. I’m struggling a bit with screens, I’ve been able to fill up with back-up stock from out back [of the store].”
When asked if he had any advice for other retailers, in the hope they could avoid such an attack, Westcott said the following:
“Make sure your security alarm monitoring people are on their game, that was one of things that let us down.”
Westcott also reported that he did have security cameras inside his store, which could prove decisive in securing a conviction for the person or persons involved.
Representatives of Parkes Police Station today told Current.com.au that a suspect was currently being held in Dubbo, and was expected to face court today.