Robbery victimrelieved by arrest
A Palmerston North service station attendant who was threatened at knife-point is likely to stay away from work for a few days because of the distressing attack.
A 38-year-old man was arrested hours after the alleged armed robbery of the Caltex petrol station on the corner of Main and Ruahine streets at 6.20am yesterday.
Police said the offender went into the service station and threatened the attendant with a knife.
He was told to put tobacco in a box the robber had brought along.
A female customer was also in the store at the time. No-one was injured. The robber took off on foot on Ruahine St towards Church St.
Service station co-owner Jeremy Hoskins said the employee went home immediately after giving a statement to police.
‘‘He was clearly frightened when I got there, but had done absolutely perfectly,’’ Mr Hoskins said. ‘‘He did everything he was meant to do.’’
Mr Hoskins said judging by the surveillance footage, which was passed on to police, the man was wielding a ‘‘pretty big, sharplooking knife’’. He said his employee ‘‘cheered up a bit’’ when he found out someone had been arrested and it was a great relief.
The attendant was expected to stay away from work for a few days and could return when he felt ready, Mr Hoskins said.
The customer who was in the shop at the time was also upset and Mr Hoskins wanted to get in touch with her to ensure she was OK.
Mr Hoskins said he was on his way to the gym when he got news of the robbery, and arrived before police.
‘‘It’s very scary for all involved,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve been running service stations for a long time and I’ve never had this happen.’’
He was shocked a person would carry out a robbery in broad daylight at such a public site.
Police were at the scene for several hours yesterday, dusting for prints and photographing the scene.
Detective Sergeant Dave Thompson said a 38-year-old man was arrested yesterday afternoon and charged with aggravated robbery.
He was to appear in court today.