gair rhydd
FREE
ISSUE 843 MAY 21 2007
CARDIFF’S STUDENT WEEKLY free word - EST. 1972
FESTIVAL SPECIAL Quench on where to go if you didn’t get that Glastonbury ticket
Q U E N C H
QUE NCH .GA IRR HYD D.C OM > VOL 4.53 MAY 21 200 7 >
N GUA RDIA T STU DEN E MAG AZIN OF THE YEA R
FUN IN THE SUN
Didn’t get Glastonbur y tickets? Won’t be partying on the Pyramid stage? Quench on the oth er events you can pretend you’d rather go to
FESTIV AL SPE CIAL
PLAYIN G IN
PLUS: Doctor Who’s Russell T Davies, Food visit Paris and Digital let out a secret
BON APPETITE FOOD GO TO PARIS
BOOKS THE HA PR Y ULTIMAT EVIEW THE E LITER A RY EVEN WELSH T WONDE GOING RS OU WELSH T ON THE BES FESTIVA T LS M
USICAL
TREATS MUSIC LO THE SU OK AT THE R EST OF MMER’S SCENE
THE NOT-SO-GREAT ESCAPE Joanna Dingle News Editor OPPORTUNIST THIEVES received an unwelcome reception and escaped with only a broken laptop after targeting a house full of students celebrating the end of their exams. The house of medical students on Newfoundland Road was broken into at around 10pm when all its residents were drinking in the garden. Around that time, two girls from the party left the house. After the event, police suggested to the group that the men probably watched them leave and presumed the house was then empty. The rest of the students remained
in the back garden having a party to celebrate the end of their third year exams. The drama began when one of the house’s occupants, a female third year Medic noticed a “black shadow” out of the corner of her eye. She said: “I looked round to the boys and said, ‘there’s someone in the house’. I went into the kitchen and just saw a black hood.” The Medic described the man as black and dressed in dark clothing. “I came back out and looked through the lounge window. It was at this moment that we locked eyes. We were staring at each other for what felt like ages. He had my housemate’s laptop and mine under his arms. I froze, and screamed. The
boys described it as a ‘horror scream’, like they’d never heard anything worse. She added: “I grabbed my housemate and shouted at him to run. “He ran through the house after the man, and all the other boys followed. My housemate who was ahead ran out the house and shouted ‘come here you f**king c*nt!’. The man turned around to see if they were chasing him – he looked terrified. “Another man who had also been in the house was further down the road. He was carrying another one of my housemate’s laptops and climbing into an awaiting car. “The same housemate kicked off his shoes and sprinted after him down the middle of the road. The man –
PHOTO: JAMES PEROU
Students chase intruders and attack get-away car after catching them stealing laptops
who must’ve shat his pants – dropped the laptops, as the rest of the boys set off down the street after him. “The first housemate reached the man just as he was shutting the car door behind him, and the other man was clearly shaking so much, he couldn’t get the keys in the ignition. “At this point, all the boys surrounded the vehicle. They ripped off the wing mirrors and the windscreen wipers and one of the boys tried to kick through the window. “They finally got the car started and drove off.” While the action was taking place, one of the housemates called the police and was able to let them know the car’s registration in a description of the incident.
The police later told the students that it was a hired vehicle. The Medic continued: “In the end we got two of the three laptops back, and the only one they did get away with was already broken – my housemate had spilt orange juice on it the day before.” “The police said that the majority of thefts around Cathays aren’t actually forced entries. Thieves target doors accidentally left open, or when students are still in the house. We were told that they target student houses between Thursdays and Sundays because they know we’re likely to be out partying. “We were very, very lucky, and will always make sure our door is double locked from now on.”