The Star: October 08, 2020
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>October</strong> 8 <strong>2020</strong><br />
8<br />
NEWS<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
Dairy owners live in fear of being<br />
• By Matt Slaughter<br />
WORCESTER Discounter<br />
Supermarket’s owner knows full<br />
well the impact robberies can<br />
have and she fears for her life<br />
every day.<br />
Her dairy on Worcester St,<br />
Linwood, is one of the 11 most<br />
robbed in Christchurch, latest<br />
statistics show.<br />
<strong>The</strong> dairy has been robbed<br />
twice since 2017.<br />
<strong>The</strong> owner, who does not want<br />
to be identified, was not working<br />
when the robberies happened.<br />
But the staff member who was<br />
robbed was so traumatised he<br />
quit his job.<br />
She said during the first one,<br />
three men armed with a hammer<br />
and a knife entered and took<br />
about $8000 of cigarettes and<br />
cash from the till.<br />
During the second robbery, a<br />
male staff member was hit with<br />
a hammer. Luckily, he was not<br />
injured but he was shaken by the<br />
experience.<br />
<strong>The</strong> owner said she experiences<br />
threatening behaviour from<br />
customers every day, including<br />
verbal abuse and is scared for her<br />
safety.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>y are, like, always threatening<br />
us,” she said.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>y are very threatening<br />
to whoever comes in. <strong>The</strong>y are<br />
very annoying and they are very<br />
scary.”<br />
Security has now been upped<br />
at the dairy. A fog cannon and<br />
second door have been installed<br />
to impair robbers’ vision and<br />
slow them down when they try<br />
to enter.<br />
A fog cannon fills stores up<br />
with fog until eventually there is<br />
no visibility for would-be thieves<br />
to see what they want to steal.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se also create an opportunity<br />
for shop attendants to move to<br />
safety if necessary.<br />
<strong>The</strong> owner has never had<br />
to activate the fog cannon in<br />
the two years since it was installed.<br />
An Official Information Act<br />
request by <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> shows what<br />
dairies are on the most robbed<br />
list since 2017.<br />
Hagley Night ‘n Day, Lincoln<br />
Rd Convenience Store and Night<br />
‘n Day Woolston top the list with<br />
three robberies each.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re have been 53 dairy<br />
robberies in Christchurch since<br />
2017.<br />
Two people have received<br />
serious injuries and 19 with<br />
TARGETED: Worcester<br />
Discounter Supermarket,<br />
Lincoln Rd Convenience<br />
Store and Hagley Night<br />
‘n Day are on the list of<br />
most robbed dairies in<br />
Christchurch since 2017.<br />
PHOTOS: GEOFF SLOAN<br />
minor injuries during the holdups.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re were 65 weapons used<br />
during these robberies, with the<br />
most common being knives and<br />
bats. Ten firearms were used.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se robberies resulted in 32<br />
people being arrested.<br />
More than 40 per cent of<br />
robberies happened on weekends.<br />
<strong>The</strong> next most popular<br />
day was Mondays, with 20.8 per<br />
cent.<br />
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