County Roscommon farm stand owner thanks community for support after vandalism and theft incident

Gardaí are investigating after a popular Ballaghaderreen farm stand was vandalised and cleared of stock in an incident that has left its owner shocked and the local community rallying behind her.

Sabrina Kuchenbacker discovered the damage on Sunday morning while walking her dog at the family-run stand in Aughalustia, where jams, vegetables and baked goods have been sold on a trust-based system for the past two years.

At first, Ms Kuchenbacker believed bad weather may have knocked part of the stand over, but she quickly realised the shelves had been emptied and the set-up damaged in what she described as a frightening breach of trust.

She explained, “I saw something laying on the ground and my first instinct was, you know was there a storm? Did it knock something over? Of course, I didn't think anything bad you know why should I?

“I turned around because I wanted to lift it up and then I saw whole setup was empty, the shelves were emptied and that there was stuff laying on the ground.” 

 “The children were freaked out to begin with and were of course totally scared they might come back to the house because they couldn’t get any cash out of the cash box.” After a similar incident occurred on their smaller stand two years ago, the Kuchenbacker family decided to install a motion camera, which the thieves managed to circumvent.

She outlined, “If there’s any motion around the camera it sends a notification to an app on my phone and it would record, but even this message didn't get delivered so they must have known where they have to grab and pick it out within seconds.” 

Between the stolen goods and the vandalism of the camera and stand, Ms Kuchenbacker estimates a few hundred euro in damages.

Gardai were contacted by the family and sent a forensics team out to the scene.

What hurts the stand owner most however is the “trust” required to run her stand has been broke.

Since the Kuchenbacker family moved from Germany to Ballaghaderreen over six years ago, the self-sufficient lifestyle has become popular on the Facebook blog ‘Our little big adventure.’ 

 While the weekend’s incident was shocking, the support shown online and in-person has made Ms Kuchenbacker really appreciate her local community.

“Something very good also came out of this and it's so lovely to see all the support. We got flowers delivered and it left me in tears in a grateful and thankful way of being part of this little town,” she concluded.