Convenience worker is robbed at knifepoint
Friendly grocer: ‘Justice system is just letting them go’
An employee of a convenience store has been left shaken after two men allegedly held up a Sheridan St business at knifepoint and made off with thousands of dollars.
Police allege on Wednesday night two men entered the Friendly Grocer, while armed with a large knife, before demanding cash from the store attendant.
Both men then fled from the store on foot with a large sum of cash before police caught up with one alleged offender at 2am and arrested the 39-yearold Cairns North man.
The second robber remains at large.
Friendly Grocer owner Raj Singh said due to the day’s takings being kept in the cash register robbers were able to get their hands on more than $2,000.
“The cash drops we just keep in the till because this has never it hasn’t happened since
we took over the business eight or nine months ago,” he said.
“They just wanted money for drugs and they could have
taken the (second) till as well.”
Mr Singh said his employee hit the duress button under the counter and immediately called police after the men
fled. “She has been through this before but not at this store,” he said.
The former taxi driver, who has lived in Cairns for the past 17 years, said the latest incident had been the first armed robbery since acquiring the business around nine months ago.
However he had been impacted by multiple break and enters involving suspected juveniles who smashed through glass doors to gain entry.
“(Crime) is getting worse and it’s all just the justice system, like they are just letting them go outside again,” he said.
“They come back and do the same stuff again and go back into the court and come back out and do the same.
“The justice system is sh*t, even the police are just fed up,” he said.
“If someone is doing ice that’s like none of my business but the justice system has got to be stricter.”
Police said one man had been charged with armed robbery and the 39-year-old appeared in Cairns Magistrates Court on Thursday.