Restaurants easy targets for robbers
THE killing of a pizzeria owner has prompted a warning for patrons to be extra vigilant following a number of recent restaurant robberies.
Eighty-year-old Antonio Vieira stopped breathing after robbers placed tape over his mouth during a hold-up at his pizzeria in a BP petrol station in Bedfordview. Following the incident, the Bedfordview CPF urged its members and the public not to wear expensive jewellery or watches while dining out.
“Now they are not even after the till money anymore; it is just easy pickings,” said CPF chairman Gavin Henry, explaining that criminals were increasingly targeting customers for their cellphones, wallets and jewellery.
Besides restaurant hold-ups, criminals have also of late turned to snatching cellphones from outside tables, often using a getaway car to escape.
But the incident at the BP garage last Sunday morning has shocked the community. Vieira was well known in the area and had owned the pizzeria for years.
According to police, two men entered the premises just as Vieira was opening the shop that morning.
The men produced firearms and proceeded to tie Vieira and an employee’s hands up. Then they taped their mouths shut.
After stealing an undisclosed amount of money, the two men fled in a white Toyota Quantum.
The employee managed to free himself and tell others that they had been robbed.
But when they returned and removed the tape from Vieira’s mouth, they discovered that he had stopped breathing. Paramedics declared him dead at the scene.
Police, said spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo, have yet to make arrests.
A month ago, not far from Vieira’s pizzeria, in neighbouring Kensington, the well-known Italian restaurant Ottimo was hit.
“They rang the doorbell and asked if they could have a table for three,” said the manager of the restaurant, Franco Cimato. “Then they walked to the back door where the bathroom is, and that is where they pulled out the guns and told everyone to get down.”
The three armed men stole cellphones, money and a laptop.
This was the first time in 30 years that Ottimo was robbed.