Schoolies cause ‘pretty significant damage’ at a Phillip Island restaurant

Schoolies is underway and some rowdy school leavers have caused “pretty significant damage” at a Phillip Island restaurant.

A group swarmed The Jetty restaurant in Cowes for an impromptu party last Wednesday night.

Restaurant owner, Gabrielle Caffieri, says they caused a fair bit of damage.

“I’ve got a little building outside … which we serve ice-creams out of, which is made of cool room panelling, and a few people decided they wanted to use that as a bit of a dancefloor,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“I think once it got to about seven people it caved in, so they fell in and obviously the walls pulled out, and to get out of there they had to kick the door out, so obviously pretty extensive damage.”

Mr Caffieri has temporarily repaired the building, but he’ll need to get a crane truck in to fix it properly, and it’ll cost thousands.

He doesn’t have a problem with schoolies, but says they need planned events.

“I’m all for them having fun, but it’s more the wrecking properties — there’s a few shops that have had panelling kicked in — and also the amount of litter. The amount of smashed bottles every morning is unbelievable. I don’t understand why, there’s plenty of bins around,” Mr Caffieri said.

Press PLAY below to see footage of the incident

Press PLAY below to hear the restaurant owner telling Neil Mitchell what happened