Thieves take man’s eye
A Hamilton shopkeeper has lost an eye and his livelihood after he was stabbed in an attack at his family-owned dairy.
Life won’t be the same for Ajit Farrar who was told by doctors at Waikato Hospital that he will need surgery to insert a prosthetic eye following the assault at his Frankton store.
The 58-year-old father suffered serious facial and hand injuries when one of four masked assailants went at him with a knife during a lunchtime robbery.
Farrar tried to grab the blade while the other hooded thieves hurled goods inside the suburban store.
‘‘My eye is very bad, it’s ruptured the eyeball has gone, gone now,’’ Farrar said from his hospital bed yesterday afternoon.
He will require further surgery on his eye and have a prosthetic eye inserted in a couple of weeks.
Farrar was working alone in the dairy on Irvine St at 12.45pm on Monday when four hooded and masked men burst through the doors.
He believes that the offenders had been scoping out his dairy for some time and knew when he would be the only person in the store.
‘‘He punched me in the eye, and I tried to take the knife off him. I had pushed the panic button. I am already bleeding but I’m not scared of him.’’
Farrar has owned the property for 27 years and has only had a few incidents over that time. But he would like the Government to step in and do something about the number of robberies of shops happening.
‘‘It’s not good one day for me, tomorrow another dairy shop, another day another liquor shop.’’
The incident has made Farrar afraid to return to his business when he is well enough.
Waikato Detective Sergeant Scott Neilson confirmed that: ‘‘One of the men approached the victim with a knife while the others have tried to get into the rear of the store.
‘‘The man with the knife has then lashed out at the victim causing significant injuries to his face and hands.’’
The four then fled the store, likely empty-handed, he said.
Although Neilson could not confirm exactly how Farrar sustained the eye injury.
Farrar’s daughter, who doesn’t want to be named, says her father was stabbed with a sharp object.
‘‘He remembers seeing a knife, he also had a cut to his hand, and lost a few teeth.’’
With such severe injuries, doctors yesterday told the family Farrar’s eye was not salvageable. He also needs immediate surgery to stop infection spreading to the other eye.
‘‘He was sad, and he’s a bit worried about having a prosthetic eye.
‘‘We’re so so gutted. Life isn’t going to be the same for him any more and he knows that,’’ said his daughter.
Family had shut up the dairy in the suburban Frankton street and say it will remain closed until her father’s health was known.
‘‘On Monday he went to work like every other morning to make a living for him and his family and some horrible people have now hurt him – their actions will impact his whole life.’’
And this isn’t the first time the family have been robbed.
A few years ago two of Farrar’s daughters were held at knifepoint while working in the store. After that the family installed a cage at the register for protection.
‘‘We have had about four to five big robberies but we seem to have a few small ones every few months.
‘‘We don’t want dad to keep the family business any more . . . which sucks because they have been in New Zealand for 30 years and have always been selfemployed, and now for his safety, he may need to give that up.’’
Farrar’s children, who work away from Hamilton, typically keep tabs on their father throughout the day due to concerns over his safety.
‘‘We shouldn’t have to worry about mum and dad’s safety when they go to work every morning. It’s such a shame.’’
Police were now looking to identify a group of men captured on CCTV footage in the neighbourhood at the time of the crime.
‘‘We would like to speak to the men identified in the picture who were in the area at the time, and hear from anyone who may have information,’’ Neilson said.
If anyone has information they can contact Waikato police on 07 858 6200 or left anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.