After a string of thefts, students in a Docklands housing block say they’re struggling to get help from guards or management

“Welcome to the crime scene,” says Sankalp Panghal, holding open the grey door to a shared kitchen on the fourth floor of his student housing block.

Just inside are a few plastic bags of rubbish. The air smells of spices, and a dirty saucepan rests on the stove.

In front of a big television are a leaf-shaped coffee table and two sofas.

“It was there,” says Panghal, pointing at the table. That’s where he last saw his PlayStation 5 and controllers.

It was 12 September 2023. He had hooked them up to the TV to play and left them there, he says, assuming they were safe.

The day they went missing, he had seen them on the table in the morning. By the evening, they were gone, says Panghal. “I was sure they were stolen just at the first glance.”

It is nearly five months since he opened a case at Store Street Garda Station, and pursued the issue through email with staff at the Point Campus student accommodation, but there is yet to be any breakthrough.

“I lost hope,” says Panghal.

Another student, Arjun Agrawal, whose Nintendo Switch was stolen around the same time, later compiled a list of things that had been taken from other people he knew in the block – game consoles, a blender, cash.

Staff offer little sympathy and seem dismissive, and just tell students to go to the guards, he says, but the guards don’t seem to be doing anything either.

A spokesperson for Host Student Housing Limited, the London-based company which runs Point Campus student accommodation on Mayor Street Upper, said its staff got three reports of thefts between May and September of last year and told students to contact the Gardaí.

“If a theft is reported, Host always advises residents to contact the Gardaí,” they said.

A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said it doesn’t comment on named entities. But it has recorded reports of theft incidents at a residential premises in Dublin 1. “Investigations are ongoing,” they said.

Reaching out

When he couldn’t find his PlayStation anywhere, Panghal rushed downstairs and asked the night staff in Tolka Block if they would check the CCTV cameras, says Panghal.

There are eight en-suite rooms in each apartment, and people living there share a kitchen. The kitchen doesn’t have cameras.

But there are two in the stairways to the fourth floor.

“They said we don’t have the authority to access the cameras,” said Panghal. In the morning, reception staff said they could only check if Gardaí asked them to, he says.

A spokesperson for Host Student Housing Limited said its staff can’t show CCTV footage to students “for data protection (GDPR) reasons”.

Arjun Agrawal’s Nintendo Switch gaming console went missing on 11 September, just a day before Panghal’s PlayStation disappeared.

“It was within, what? Five days of moving into The Point,” he says.

That too was in the shared kitchen, and last seen at 4pm that day by a few of his flatmates, he says.

Agrawal texted one of his friends who had just moved out of the flat he’d moved into. He told him his Nintendo Switch also went missing while living there, says Agrawal.

Agrawal and the friend he’d texted started coming up with their own theories about who might have done it. But they couldn’t back them up with evidence.

“Yea, it was like, what’s stopping them from doing it again?” said Agrawal.

Staff at Point Campus told him to go to the guards, and came across as uncaring, he says.

Soon, someone made a purchase on his Nintendo Switch account, buying a Batman game. “Which was $60, and I had to call Nintendo to cancel it,” he said.

At that point, he was sure it was stolen, says Agrawal.

Later, Agrawal reached out to more people he knew and compiled a list of things that had gone missing between May and September 2023. Six items in total: a PlayStation, three Nintendo Switches, a smoothie-maker, and about €500 cash.

Call for help

Panghal says he was hoping staff would be more proactive in helping students track down their stolen belongings and ensuring they wouldn’t get robbed again. “They don’t help,” he says.

A spokesperson for Host Student Housing Limited said its staff take safety seriously. They’re on-site 24/7 and patrol the blocks regularly, they said.

Security measures like CCTV cameras are installed in places where they’re allowed too.

“CCTV cameras are not permitted in the student apartments, including kitchens, by law,” the spokesperson said.

The company has upgraded the main entrance door to its blocks, they said, and they regularly check residents’ key fob access. “As well as CCTV for any suspicious activity or potential unauthorised entry to the building.”

Point Campus has 966 rooms, they said, and so many students and their friends come and go.

Staff have told students not to let in people they don’t know. “And not to buzz in unidentified visitors,” the spokesperson said.

When Panghal reported his missing PlayStation by email, Point Campus staff replied that he should check with his roommates.

“We will wait to see if anyone brings the PlayStation to us, otherwise please continue a thorough search,” they also said.

Panghal wanted them do more though. He asked that they search other students’ rooms – or email around to ask if anyone had seen the PlayStation and, if so when.

Staff said they couldn’t do that. “We cannot inspect other people’s rooms,” they said, by email. “Please continue your search with the help of garda.”

Panghal said they wouldn’t compensate him, and since he’d left the PlayStation unattended, insurance wouldn’t cover it either. He’d paid around €500 for it, he says.

Agrawal, the student who lost his Nintendo Switch, is in the same boat with insurance. “I just felt defeated,” he said.

A spokesperson for Host said insurance cover is part of students’ tenancy agreement. And “if there has found to be a breach in Host’s security procedures, we discuss compensation with students affected”, they said.

Who can they call?

Point Campus has two student housing blocks on Mayor Street Upper: Liffey and Tolka.

Tolka, where Agrawal and Panghal live, is a six-storey building. It has a cinema in its basement and a colossal rooftop with a shimmering view of the city.

The rent is around €250 a week, said Panghal. “With the bills, it’s about €1,100 a month.”

Tenants, including those in student housing, can file grievances to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) for all kinds of disputes if their tenancy is registered.

A spokesperson for the RTB said it can’t get involved in alleged criminal matters.

But it covers “issues such as rent reviews and rent setting, deposits, breaches of obligation including anti-social behaviour and issues relating to maintenance,” said a spokesperson.

The RTB’s student-housing register for August to November 2023 doesn’t show Point Campus. But a spokesperson for Host said the company has paid for tenancy registration on RTB for the 2023–24 period in October.

“And have had confirmation from RTB that they are registered,” they said.

A spokesperson for RTB said it updates its student housing register every quarter during the Academic year. The current register doesn’t show any registration after November 2023, they said.

Turning to the Gardaí

On 12 September, Agrawal, the student whose Nintendo Switch went missing, emailed the garda assigned to his case, asking them to ask the staff for CCTV footage.

“They have made it clear that they will not take any action or review the CCTV footage without Garda involvement,” he wrote.

In response, the officer said he would. “Still, they should be more engaging with their residents to allay your fears about crimes that may occur on their premises,” the garda wrote.

A day later, Agrawal sent a list of the missing things that he had compiled from other students, saying he was working to add to it.

The garda wrote back saying that Point Campus staff had assured him they would look into their security policies and would get back.

He said he’d engage with the Point Campus team. But “they are a private entity and so, are free to make their own decisions as they see fit”, he wrote.

There’s been no update since, said Agrawal. “I still don’t know if they checked the CCTV footage.”

Panghal, the other student, says there was a 17-day delay in starting the investigation of his case because it was assigned to a garda about to take a vacation. “The first thing he said was that he was going on holiday.”

On 30 September, Panghal wrote to the garda about his safety concerns at the block, mentioning the delay in the investigation, too.

“As a resident, I no longer feel safe in this environment, and I fear for the security of my belongings and the well-being of fellow residents,” he wrote.

Panghal and Agrawal say they feel physically safe at Point Campus, but worry about losing expensive belongings.

“And this is the area [the kitchen] where we like to, you know, maybe play some games on TV together,” said Agrawal.

Last Wednesday night, Panghal bumped into another student in the lift on his way back to the lobby. They talked about someone’s coffeemaker that had gone missing.