Stolen decking taken from a restaurant in St Clement has been returned to its owners, the Yu family.
The driver of a white van was captured on CCTV on Wednesday (5 July) throwing decking boards into The Rice Bowl's car park, before driving off and returning with a second load.
It follows £2,000 in wood being stolen from the restaurant on Saturday (1 July) at around 8:30pm.
The family that owns the Chinese restaurant - which is currently under refurbishment - have described the feeling as bittersweet, because although their decking has been returned, the man involved was ‘visibly upset and desperate’.
Stephen Yu, the co-founder of Awabi and son of Ken Yu, who owns The Rice Bowl, has expressed compassion for the situation - saying ‘ultimately he is a human being’.
"He was pretty upset. He knew the consequences of what he had done. He’s a family man… it just made us feel a bit awkward… a bit bittersweet I guess."
"We still got our timber back, (albeit) damaged. We’ll still be able to use some of it, but we'll probably have to repurpose (it). So yeah, no harm done."
🎙️🫡CALLING ALL TROOPS! PLEASE STAND DOWN! THIS IS A DIRECT ORDER FROM STARSHIP COMMAND!🎙️🫡 Yesterday evening, a white...
Posted by Awabi on Thursday, July 6, 2023
Awabi and The Rice Bowl have thanked islanders for their help after taking to social media with their initial appeals for information about the theft.
In a follow up post they don’t feel the need to ‘names and shame’.
Stephen says empathy is important right now, as the man told the family he is struggling.
"Everyone is feeling the penny-pinch at the moment. iIt’s not a great time for a lot of people, if we can understand his motivations we can begin to feel empathy for him."
The family has made light of the whole debacle by posting popular memes on their social media account:
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