Geraldton police charge four juveniles after $1500 of alcohol stolen from Old Man and the Sea rooftop bar

Geraldton police have arrested and charged four juveniles after they allegedly broke into a rooftop bar twice and stole about $1500 worth of alcohol from shelves in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Police say about 1.30am on Wednesday, October 4, four juveniles — aged 13, 15 and 16 — walked up the ramp towards The Gerald Apartment Hotel car park and climbed the stairs to the locked entry gate of Old Man and the Sea Rooftop Bar. Officer-in-charge Sen. Sgt Chris Martin said the accused jumped over the fence, walked around for a few minutes and left. A few moments later, he alleged the accused re-entered the closed site and stole a large number of alcoholic spirit bottles from the shelves. Sen. Sgt Martin said the juveniles allegedly placed the bottles into a backpack and carried others over the entry fence and left the venue. Hours later, police allege about 2am the same accused juveniles broke into the Old Man and the Sea Rooftop Bar again, climbing the staircase and jumping over the locked gate. “The (accused) again are observed via CCTV entering the bar area and selecting bottles of alcoholic spirits and placing some into a backpack and carrying others over the point of entry where they have exited the business by climbing back over the secured gate,” Sen. Sgt Martin said. The accused were observed on City CCTV cameras prior to the alleged burglaries and were arrested by police a short time later. A 13-year-old, 15-year-old and two 16-year-olds were all charged with two counts of burglary and stealing and are due to appear in Geraldton Magistrates court at a later date. The Gerald Apartment Hotel owner Grant Pitman said about $1500 worth of alcohol was stolen and it was the second incident at the rooftop bar in six years. He said it was clear children had nothing better to do if they were walking the streets at that time. “It’s just a pity that these kids are so bored they need to break into places and maybe they should be at home with their parents,” he said. “Now it’s happened we’ve upped our security and it will be a a lot harder to get in. Everything is double-locked, we’ve installed stronger locks and stronger security gates. “I’m amazed how dumb these people are, they were filmed on four cameras so the police found them quickly.”