Shop staff wield cricket bat at shoplifter
THOMAS MANCH
Last updated
11:27, June 1 2017
A Hamilton
greengrocer says he refuses to give in to shoplifters after his staff fended
off a would-be thief with a cricket bat.
After the
thief left, the next day the greengrocer said he received a threatening call
from the man's relative.
A brawl
broke out outside Harjit Singh's Vege King, Fairfield store on Tuesday after a
man was asked to return stolen corned beef.
The man
became violent, Singh said, punching his staff who resorted to returning blows
with a cricket bat.
"He
bloody steal stuff you know, and then he hit my staff. We don't want to hit
anyone. We want to stop them you know."
A staff
member suspected the man was pocketing cheese. He then alerted other staff when
she saw him nab the corned beef.
He pushed
her, and walked from the store. Outside, another Vege King staff member asked
him to return the goods.
The man,
"pretending to be like a boxer", threw a punch at his face, Singh
said.
"After
that, what can we do? Then we hit him too."
More
workers, and the cricket bat, came from the back of the store to assist.
The end of
the brawl was captured by a passer-by, who posted the footage on Facebook.
After a
swipe at his head, the man walks away from the store - without the food, Singh
said.
But the saga
continued. On Wednesday, Singh said he received a threatening phone call from
the young man's uncle.
"He
said, 'oh, I want to fight with you'. I said, 'Okay, one on one? I'm ready ...
you tell me the place.'"
The uncle's
tone then changed and an apology was offered, he said.
Singh was
growing frustrated with both shoplifters and police response.
"They
came here and they pretended like nothing happened here."
A police
spokesperson said the man had already left the scene when officers arrived.
Police spoke to witnesses and enquiries are ongoing.
It was
fortunate Vege King had a lot of staff during situations like this, he said.
"I feel
sorry for the other people they're targeting. Last week, the Super Liquor …
it's really, really bad you know."
Two doors
down Heaphy Tce, Super Liquor faced a similar problem on Friday night.
A young man,
masked with a red bandanna, entered the store and threw an empty backpack in
front of manager Dev Bhardwaj.
He drew a
long, single barrel weapon from his puffer jacket.
"It's
bloody scary man, I had three customers in the shop," Bhardwaj said.
After 6pm,
he is the sole shopkeeper in the small village shopping centre. Police
responded in 10 minutes, he said.
It was the
first time in six years he's faced a firearm, he said, but aggressive armed
robberies aren't uncommon.
Three weeks
ago, three young men entered the store and threatened him with a knife.
"We are
basically in a dilemma, what can we do?"
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