Frustrated over his staff being hit by two robbers on Sunday, May 7 during an aggravated robbery attempt, a dairy shop owner in Onehunga has pledged to thrash the next (would be) robber who enters to rob his store.
Two robbers armed with screwdrivers entered the Jellicoe Park Dairy on Trafalgar Street at around 2 p.m. on Sunday and charged the worker present in the shop.
“He pushed my staff onto the counter and demanded cash from the till. The offender hit my staff a few times before he got into a scuffle,” owner of the dairy, Joga Singh said.
Although the plot of the robbers to take cash and cigarettes from the shop failed as they attempted to take out the cash till, one of the two staffs present at the counter was left injured and terrified.
“I have a bat at the counter and an iron rod inside, the next time I wouldn’t think twice before putting these robbers on the floor, let the police do what they want, they [the robbers] have to be taught a lesson,” Mr Singh told Indian Weekender.
The offenders failed to open the till and quickly drove into a car waiting outside, apparently driven by the third accomplice. The car was later found dumped in the neighbourhood and is believed to be stolen. The police arrived at the dairy after being called by a customer and cordoned the shop area for investigation.
“My staff also works at the store next door and had come to the dairy to have his lunch. He was beaten while he was leaving the counter and confronted the robbers before being hit back to the ground,” Mr Singh added.
Mr Singh expressed his disappointment on the action of the police and the lawmakers. He alleged that when the police come to investigate the scene, they close the shop for hours, asks many questions to which the answers already lie in the CCTV video footage.
“We gave the police the car number, the CCTV footage and yet they are unable to catch the offenders in time. When will the lawmakers take a strong and an effective action, the day we lose our sons and daughters to a gunshot, stabbing or a hammer blow to the head??,” Mr Singh questioned.
“The police already has limited powers and can barely do anything to these offenders, they get away in three days, and we are back to square one,” he added.
“I have the police visiting the store today evening, and I will tell them on their face that I will not leave the offender next time, I will make sure he gets the lesson of his life,” Mr Singh said.
The robbery comes just two hours before the Crime Prevention Group meeting was scheduled to be held in Papatoetoe where members of the parliament, community leaders, shop owners, victims of robbery and other media gathered to discuss solutions to this rising crime in the city.
“These meetings will only result in another meeting, and no constructive results will come out. In the end, the people at the receiving end will only suffer,” Mr Singh said.
Mr Singh said he would ask all the dairy owners in the country to go on a strike for one day and close all their shops.
“All dairies should be closed for one day, it is not to make the community suffer but ask them to understand their plight and demand the government for a quick remedy to this menace of the rise in robbery and assaults on small dairy and liquor stores,” Mr Singh concluded.
The Crime Prevention Group that was started after an aggravated robbery in Mt Roskill that left the owner Jitesh Arora hospitalised with four consecutive surgeries and their store shut down for the last two months. Crime Prevention Group organised a protest march on Sunday, April 30 that witnessed participation of 700 people who demanded a solution from the government.
The Prevention Group has also signed a petition against rising crime and taken 7,000 signatures from all over New Zealand and will soon march to the parliament.
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