It was a phone call that shattered Point Cook Oz Ten Pin Bowling owner Lorraine Sampson.
A culmination of 10 years of hard work, growing and maintaining her business, destroyed in one day by “selfish” thieves who broke into the arcade on Saturday, December 31.
Ms Sampson said the first sign something was amiss came the day before, when an employee noticed the garage door had been broken.
“We locked it up and put chains on and thought ‘there’s no way they can get in there now’,” she said.
Police say two people broke into the business at about 6.30am.
“When the [store] manager called me, and said ‘I’ve got bad news for you…they were back and they’ve done a lot of damage,” Ms Sampson said.
“And my heart just sank…I couldn’t believe it.
“They cut everything off and got in there and ripped all the other things off, they went back about four times.”
Ms Sampson said the thieves took off with two bumper cars, a compressor, a virtual reality system and other electronic items.
“We [also] have to get the roller doors fixed, and [repair] all the damage they’ve done, [repurchase] the parts that I’m missing, it’s probably going to cost about $80,000 by the time we’re all through,” she said.
“We’ve put a thousand dollar reward, I’m sure [the items] will never [be returned], but we’re trying to do everything we can to get them back.”
Details: www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
