Westport business suffers third burglary in ten months

Westport business suffers third burglary in ten months


Neill O’Neill

A business owner in Westport awoke yesterday morning (Monday) to discover that her coffee shop had been broken into and burgled for the third time in less than a year.
Anne Gavin, who has been successfully trading on Bridge Street in Westport for many years under her family name, was shocked that once again the premises was damaged and vandalised in what she feels was a targeted burglary.
Intruders smashed their way through a side door and created a mess before damaging the till and stealing the float that had been left for trading on Monday.
Gardaí attended at the scene and undertook a forensic analysis, but there was little information available on the crime yesterday.
The coffee shop was broken into last November and again on Christmas Day 2012. At the time, gardaí detained and questioned a man under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act but no update or charges have since been made in relation to this.
Attending the coffee shop to help with the clean-up and replacing the damaged door and glass, Anne Gavin did not wish to say much about the break-in. She did, however, note that the break-in was a replica of the earlier burglaries, in both  the method of entry into Gavin’s and the items that were targeted on the premises. The sustained targeting of her business is an enormous concern for her, as it impacts on her ability to trade and it is very costly to repair the damage each time.