Leo Molloy fumes at police

Prominent Auckland business owner and former Mayoral candidate Leo Molloy is “frustrated” at the police’s response after a group allegedly caused damage to one of his restaurants overnight.

HeadQuarters Viaduct restaurant on Customs St in central Auckland was targeted by a group of people just after 4am.

Molloy said the group tried to gain access to the restaurant and were mucking around on the roof.

He told Newshub the cleaners at his next-door restaurant saw the group on the roof and contacted police.

When police arrived, the group was still on the roof but Molloy said one of them fell off and had a “rather hard landing” before the group “scurried off”.

Police told Newshub in a statement they received reports a group of four people “playing around” caused damage at the restaurant.

“Police have attended, located a group nearby who matched the description and spoken with the offenders,” a police spokesperson said.

Molloy told Newshub the group vandalised and damaged the restaurant’s new canopy and the awnings need fixing.

Molloy said this will see the restaurant without outdoor shelter for around four weeks. He estimates the cost of direct damage will be around $50,000 but after the loss in turnover it will be “hundreds of thousands of dollars”.

Molloy said it’s “not a great situation” and the behaviour by the group and the police’s response was “unacceptable”.

He added it’s “incredibly frustrating” none of the suspects had been arrested and they had been let off so easily.

Molloy told Newshub the police’s response was “weak as piss” and they were “too lazy to arrest them”.

“Why would they (the group) do this, just go home and behave yourself,” Molloy said.

“Police say this is okay, how is this okay.”

He told Newshub nothing to this extent had ever happened to Headquarters or any of his other businesses before.

The police spokesperson said officers had undertaken to facilitate reparations between the owner of the restaurant and those responsible for any damage.