Youngsters blamed after icecream stolen in raid

Sweet-toothed burglars who targeted a Carterton cafe fled with pre-packaged icecreams - but not before ruining other stock.

The Milk Churn cafe was broken into overnight on Wednesday with the intruders making off with several hundred dollars from the till, as well as drinks and icecreams.

Co-owner Shyamal Patel, whose family recently took over operation of the cafe, said the raid took place sometime after 9.30pm when the store closed.

She believed the burglars had prised open a toilet window to gain access to the building, before mixing up the Tip-Top icecream in cartons and quaffing bottles of drink in the kitchen.

"They messed around the whole place, they had a few drinks out the back. They took some drinks and messed up the icecreams and emptied out the other icecreams - it looks like kids."

She was annoyed by the wastefulness of mixing the different icecreams together, much of which had to be thrown away, she said. "Take money, that's fine but messing around the place wasn't a good idea."

About $200 to $250 had been stolen from the till, which contained the next day's float.

Most of the pre-packaged icecreams in a separate freezer had also been stolen.

She was not sure what had motivated the burglary apart from immaturity, Mrs Patel said.

"Maybe they were too hot so they wanted an icecream."

As a new resident in Carterton, it was not something she had been expecting in the small town where most of the customers were regulars, Mrs Patel said. "Before today we were enjoying it."

The cafe would be beefing up security with bars on the windows and CCTV cameras.