Crime wave ignites protest
Shopkeepers have taken to Hamilton streets to say enough is enough after the fatal stabbing of a Hamilton man working at an Auckland dairy.
Janak Patel, 34, died after an alleged robbery at a Sandringham dairy he was working at on Wednesday night.
About 200 people stood on Te Rapa Rd, outside The Base, yesterday to call for the Government to address the crime wave hitting small businesses – before anyone else died.
‘‘This is happening all the time. We just don’t know what will happen next,’’ an exasperated Sanjay Sharma said.
His store, the Bryant Park Super Liquor, was the victim of its first aggravated robbery on Wednesday at 6pm.
Five people came in with knives and stole two cash registers, spirits, and RTDs before smashing up the store.
‘‘It’s very scary. Luckily the staff were safe, which is the main thing.’’
His staff saw the group coming on CCTV and hid in the staff room for safety, he said.
He said robbers were getting braver and more violent and the fear of it happening again was always in the back of his mind – and his staff’s.
He said there needed to be harsher consequences for teens targeting retailers, and he believed shop owners would need to start protecting themselves with weapons.
A show of hands by the people targeted by an aggravated robbery saw almost the whole crowd raise their hands.
Raza Mehdi was on the main Hamilton road in solidarity with dairy and superette owners.
His wholesaler business, Bizline Hamilton, provided goods to about 200 dairies and almost all of them had been targeted.
‘‘I am here in support of them. It’s really sad, really frustrating for the community.’’
He said most small retailers were family run and it was sad to see their livelihoods targeted frequently.
Mehdi said shoplifting wasn’t a new problem for dairy owners, but the frequency and level of violence had increased.
‘‘We need to change the laws, I know they are young kids but
we need to be strict.’’
National Party leader Chris Luxon, who was at the protest, said small retailers had been crying out for help for years.
‘‘It’s a big deal for them to pack up their shops and be out here. Enough is enough.’’
He said the cacophony of toots from people in cars driving past the protest showed public support for action. Something needed to be done, he said.
‘‘I genuinely hope that something good comes out of this tragic situation’’.
Luxon said there needed to be serious consequences for serious offending.
The National Party’s policy targeting young offenders, announced last week, would see those aged 15-17, who commit two or more serious crimes, do a stint of up to 12 months in a young offender military academy.
Meanwhile, police announced they had caught the alleged killer of Janak Patel and an associate on Friday night.
A 34-year-old appeared in the Auckland District Court on Saturday, charged with murder, and a second man, charged with robbery, will appear today.
A third man was arrested and charged with robbery yesterday and was to appear in Auckland
District Court today.
Two days after Patel’s death, a vape shop in Hamilton’s Melville was targeted by five young people armed with knives.
Sidhu Naresh, Vapeys NZ owner, said they ran into the store on Friday at 6pm yelling, wearing masks and wielding knives.
They forced the staff member to kneel down with his hands in the air and held a knife to his neck.
The teens smashed all the cabinets, grabbed about $20,000 worth of products and took the till which had about $4000 cash in it.
A courier driver, who was at a petrol station across the road, heard the commotion and grabbed one of the teenagers in an attempt to help but he was cut with a knife and backed off.
Naresh owned seven vape stores across Auckland and Hamilton, and said they had been robbed or ramraided about 11 times.
The constant attacks and threats gave him nightmares.
■ The funeral for Janak Patel was held yesterday in the south Auckland suburb of Wiri. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Transport Minister Michael Wood, National MP Melissa Lee and Detective Inspector Scott Beard were among those who gathered to pay their respects.