Shoplifting escalates to robbery

The owners of a Palmerston North dairy were horrified as persistent shoplifting escalated into an attempted armed robbery.

They were already sick of two teenagers who had repeatedly stolen drinks from the dairy, and then the pair came back with a hammer, said Vaishali Patel, of Candy Corner Dairy.

Police were called to the corner of Ruahine and Grey streets after the attempted robbery just before 2pm on Thursday. The robbers fled without any loot after the dairy owners triggered a panic alarm. A police spokesman said two 15-year-old boys were later taken into custody.

Jibesh and Vaishali Patel took over the dairy only three months ago, but they had previously run a dairy in Auckland. They’d been through a couple of robberies before, but it never stopped being terrifying, Vaishali Patel said.

She was out the back at the time, and watched helplessly on the security monitor as the two teenagers rushed up to her husband at the counter waving a hammer.

They demanded that he fill their bag with cash, but seemed to get impatient and threw the bag over the counter – smashing the security camera, she said.

‘‘I was really scared. My mind just stopped. I was so worried about my husband.’’

While the robbers were distracted, Jibesh Patel dashed into the back of the shop, locked the door and tripped the panic alarm. ‘‘So they messed up the store and ran away.’’

Vaishali Patel said she had security footage of the same boys shoplifting from Candy Corner four times in the past week.

At first, the thieves had hoods up to cover their faces, but by the end of the week they were brazen enough that they didn’t bother, she said. She thought they may have been building up the nerve for the robbery.