Support for shop’s safety cage
Belinda Feek
Customers of a Hamilton dairy where an iron cage has been installed to keep the owners and staff safe have been overwhelmingly supportive of the idea.
Owner Sandip Patel had the security entrance installed on Good Friday, nearly a month after he was viciously attacked by a machete-wielding man during an aggravated robbery.
While the two alleged offenders, aged 16 and 17, have been arrested, Patel said he did not feel safe and wanted a more permanent fix while waiting to hear back regarding Government assistance.
Patel, who no longer has the bandages masking his fractured skull and defensive cuts to his hands, said his regular customers supported what he was doing.
He had also received calls of support from members of the public from outside the Waikato region.
Regular customer Marie Welten was at the dairy buying bread with 2-year-old son Carter.
She said it was ridiculous Patel had to go to such lengths to protect himself. “I think it sucks. And they’re the loveliest people ever.”
Putting the price up on cigarettes had almost put a target on dairy owners’ backs.
“I just think cigarettes being so expensive hasn’t done anything to change it. People are still smoking but they’re [stealing from] dairies to get them. The Government thinks they did something right, but clearly they didn’t. It’s so annoying.”
She had been in the shop not long after Patel had been attacked and was horrified at the sight.
“It made me cry, it was awful. I can’t believe it. It’s scary, it really is. It’s just lucky it wasn’t worse.”
Hamilton Boy’s High School student Zac Entwisle, 16, also lives nearby and is a regular customer.
He was entering the store for the first time since the new security system had been installed.
He said the cage would not put him off shopping there in the future, however he didn’t think it was fair.
“I think it’s pretty bad, he shouldn’t have to do this . . . it should be safe where he works.”
Since the attack there had been a greater police presence, but locking cage doors would make him and his customers feel more safe, Patel said.
“Now if somebody comes along with their hood up or a bandanna I will ask them to take it off before I let them in, otherwise they can go somewhere else.”