Nor'West News: January 14, 2021

6 Thursday January 14 2021
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NOR’WEST NEWS
‘People are scared of them’
•From page 1
Peter Timbs Meats St Albans
manager David Timbs has had
enough. A police presence would
not do any harm, he said, but he
just wanted them to disappear.
“Every day they’d sit on that
chair with a box of Cody’s. When
they run out of drink they harass
customers for money. They hang
around our food caravan and
intimidate customers,” he said.
“People are scared of them. I
don’t have a solution, but when
one [police car] drives past, that’s
not really a presence is it?”
On one occasion Timbs
caught one of the men leaving
his store with a jacket full of
stolen bacon, which led to a
physical altercation. Some
regular customers were no longer
visiting the store because they felt
threatened.
“One of our customers was
shaken up because she gave them
money but it wasn’t enough. We
usually just get the lads out back
telling them to move on, but if
you do that, and you do it to a
stage where it’s going to annoy
them, they’ll tag your building.”
Next door, Real Fruit Parlour
was tagged with graffiti in
December. Front-of-house worker
and chef Chadi Coira believes it
was retaliation for fighting back.
“There’s this dude that always
David Timbs
walks around stopping people
before they get a chance to open
their car doors, harassing them
for money. He always says that
he’s down from Wellington
because his dad’s died and needs
money for the bus,” she said.
Her co-workers were
“terrified,” so she would usually
tell him to leave.
“I saw him at Riverside Market
one time. I was like, don’t come
back. And after, that’s when
the tag happened so it’s a bit
suspicious.”
Although Coira did not fear
him or the group, she just wanted
them to “go away.”
A Madras St resident, who did
not want to be named, said a man
knocked on her door last month
at 9am asking for money.
She was only wearing a
nightgown at the time. “He said:
‘Oh, you’re not wearing much,’
and tried to put his hand through
the door,” she said.
FreshChoice Edgeware owner
Stephen Anderson said the group
was recently trespassed by police
from entering the supermarket
due to aggressive behaviour
towards staff and shoppers.
Anderson said a meeting
between police and retailers took
place before Christmas, which
resulted in the trespass notice
and the prompt to increase their
presence.
In spite of the notice, the group
still came back to harass and
“frighten” customers for food and
money.
“These guys say to us, well you
can’t do anything because we’re
on the footpath,” he said.
“I haven’t seen the police round
here for ages, I think they can
do more. Why can’t they start
arresting these guys?”
CUT BACK: A large number of willow trees at a dog park
in The Groynes will be removed or trimmed next week.
PHOTO: NEWSLINE
Up to 100 willow
trees to go at park
A LARGE number of willow
trees by a popular dog park at
The Groynes are going to be
trimmed or removed from next
week.
Environment Canterbury
staff, along with a contractor,
will be cutting back the trees on
an 800m section of Ōtukaikino
Creek, between The Groynes
and Dickeys Rd.
The trees, which border the
pedestrian walkway along
Ōtukaikino Creek by the dog
park, are being removed or cut
back because they are in poor
health. Some are dropping limbs
into the creek and restricting
the flow of the waterway, while
others are showing signs of dieback.
Access to the walkway will
continue while work on the
trees is done, but there will be
some temporary diversions in
place for about four weeks.
Environment Canterbury
estimated that 100 or fewer trees
will be removed. New plants will
be planted in their place.
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