The past week's incident at Hamilton's Irvine St Dairy, where a dairy worker had two fingers cut off in a violent robbery, has shocked the whole community.
According to Irvine St Dairy owner Puneet Singh, four males entered the dairy around 7:20 am on Saturday (December 17) when his worker had just opened the shop, one carrying a machete. When his worker tried to run to the back room to save himself, he was attacked with the machete.
"The machete hit my worker's hand, and his fingers fell on the floor, two of the fingers," Singh was quoted as saying.
“The government should take it seriously. If you don't look after the people, there's no point. And it's not only my shop, it's happening everywhere,” he said.
Singh also maintained that he was on edge because those who commit such robbers “know there are no consequences.”
The police are yet to catch the offenders.
Following the incident, on Monday (December 19), the National Party’s Member of Parliament and Spokesperson for Ethnic Communities, Melissa Lee, along with former National Party MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, travelled to Hamilton to meet Singh. Ravinder Singh Samra from the Hamilton Sikh Temple joined them.
Sharing her experience, Lee wrote on her social media page, “For small ethnic business communities like Puneet and his team at the Irvine Street Dairy, these attacks not only are terrifying but traumatic when they are just trying to build a life in our country. The Government must do more to end the crime now.”
Mr Bakshi, too, maintained that the present government of NZ has failed to ensure the safety of its citizens”. He said, “The crime is increasing not by the day but by the minute in NZ. Is this the NZ we want? Every Kiwi deserves to feel safe in their home, business and community.
“The present government of NZ has failed significantly in this. We all don't deserve to live in stress and fear. People have lost hope in this government. Laws need to be changed and changed swiftly before it is too late. This government needs to wake up.”
He revealed that when they met Singh, he raised many issues related to safety, business challenges, and the workforce shortage. “He was very disappointed, frustrated and traumatised.”
While in Hamilton, Mr Bakshi, along with Lee, also visited the family of Janak Patel – the dairy worker who was killed in an aggravated robbery on November 23 in Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham. They asked them about their well-being and assured them of any help they could provide.
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