PM counters arming staff
Fatal stabbing highlights safety of retail workers
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern disagrees that shopkeepers should be armed in light of the fatal stabbing of a man in an Auckland dairy on Wednesday night.
A male offender allegedly entered the Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham and killed the newlymarried shopkeeper who was onsite.
The dairy was inside Ardern’s Mt Albert electorate, which she said was particularly sad.
“It is devastating to see what has happened,” Ardern said, reiterating her sorrow.
Ardern said she shopped at a different local dairy in the Auckland suburb but said the Sandringham dairy where the attack and robbery took place was close by.
She acknowledged the family members of the man who was killed and said the dairy was wellsupported by the community which she was a part of.
The Government has regularly been criticised by the National and Act parties for not delivering stronger consequences to young offenders.
It followed a spate of ram raids and aggravated robberies earlier this year, which prompted the creation of a fund to support installation of security measures for small retailers.
Police have appealed to the public for help to identify the man responsible,
who was reportedly dressed in a black shirt, black pants, a black hat, and a black and white bandanna.
Ardern, speaking to media from Hamilton, said the current focus of the police was apprehending the offender. She would receive updated briefings as a local member of parliament.
She referenced her “grave concern” about aggravated robberies, despite noting a recent slight decrease in the prevalence of ram raids.
Ministers were continually talking about how they could support police and business owners in preventing crime, she said.
Ardern said the most important thing today was to acknowledge the man’s family and make sure police were as well supported as possible to
ensure “justice is done”.
Asked whether she was soft on crime, Ardern said she had disagreed with that consistently and spoke of the long sentences possible for those who committed offences such as aggravated robberies.
She revealed she had met with Justice Minister Kiri Allan and Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni about what gaps there were in the system for addressing youth offenders.
She spoke of the complexity of dealing with offenders younger than 12, who were unable to go before the Youth Court.
Ardern said the Government was focused on providing effective prevention and intervention programmes for those youth to stop them from becoming offenders.
Asked about some shopkeepers wanting to arm themselves, Ardern said she held different views on the matter. It comes as Ardern published a heartfelt message on social media concerning the man’s death, saying “no one should have to confront such senseless violence or crime”.
“To the family who today mourns their lost loved one — I am so sorry this has happened,” she wrote yesterday.
In the Auckland suburb of Sandringham, police were called to the Rose Cottage Superette at the intersection of Haverstock Rd and Fowlds Ave at 8.05pm on Wednesday after an offender entered the shop armed with a knife and took the cash register.
“We are still working to establish exactly what took place, but at some point, during the incident, the dairy worker was allegedly stabbed,” police said in a statement to media just after 10pm.
The worker suffered critical injuries and was transported to hospital but died a short time later.
Police have launched a homicide investigation, with a manhunt underway for the offender.
Hundreds of people had gathered outside the Rose Cottage Superette yesterday to pay tribute to the deceased man.
Ardern was in Waikato to visit new Ka¯inga Ora transitional housing as well as the Waikato Regional Theatre site, which was funded through the Provincial Growth Fund.