Have-a-go dairy owner tackles robbers for fourth time
WHENan armed robber walked into a Christchurch dairy yesterday morning, Kamlesh Patel did what he always does: put up a fight.
The Opawa Discounter owner, with his wife and daughter, fought the masked man, who tried to steal cigarettes armed with a stun gun.
Yesterday was the fourth time robbers targeted Patel’s Opawa Rd store. It was the third time the offender came off second best. Patel has a message for other would-be robbers: ‘‘I’m going to try and catch them again and again.’’
The incident unfolded shortly after the dairy opened about 8am.
Patel was out the back of the store, but after hearing the bell, checked to see if there was a customer. Instead, he found a balaclava-clad man behind the JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/FAIRFAX NZ counter, trying to open the shutter where the cigarettes were kept. ‘‘I caught him by his hoodie.’’ Patel yelled out to his wife and daughter for help. Together they wrestled the man for about 15 seconds.
Security footage showed the man trying to shock Patel and his wife with a stun gun. Patel’s leather jacket shielded him, but his wife was zapped and suffered bruising down her arm.
‘‘We were expecting somebody [a customer] to come in from the outside and help us,’’ Patel said.
He pulled the man’s balaclava off, partly revealing his face.
The offender ran out the door to escape, but the couple and their daughter, Nidhi, followed and noted the man’s licence plate.
Patel hoped the incident would serve as a warning to robbers . ‘‘147 [Opawa Road] is not the place for a robbery.’’
In 2010, a man pointed a gun at Patel. On the second occasion an offender tried to take off with a packet of cigarettes. The third time, earlier this year, the offender tried to take his cash register.
‘‘I am not going to allow them to do anything,’’ Patel said. ‘‘I’m going to try and catch them again and again.’’
Officers set up cordons in the area. They stopped a vehicle on Tunnel Rd a short time later and arrested a 24-year-old man.
Two shotguns and a hatchet were in the vehicle.
Police charged the 24-year-old with two counts of assault with intent to rob, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a restricted weapon. He would likely appear in Christchurch District Court tomorrow.