Praneeta Mahajan
Hamilton, January 27, 2023
Police arrested a 19-year-old man today in relation to a violent robbery of a dairy on Irvine Street, Hamilton on 17 December 2022.
He is due to appear in the Palmerston North District Court tomorrow on a number of charges including aggravated robbery, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, aggravated assault, assault with intent to rob, and unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle.
Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders said, “We know that these incidents are extremely concerning for our community. These crimes will not be tolerated, and Police are committed to ensuring that those responsible for crimes such as this will be held to account.”
In December last year, CCTV showed four people entering the Irvine Street Dairy in the Hamilton suburb of Frankton. The staff member, a young father, escaped to a back room but was chased down.
The dairy worker “offered no resistance whatsoever” to robbers was attacked with a machete after running to a back room.
The Nepalese shopkeeper was attacked about 7.30am on Saturday morning when four offenders ran into Hamilton’s Irvine St dairy. According to the Dairy owner Puneet Singh, they stole estimated $15,000 to $20,000 of cigarettes.
His thumb and finger were severed, and he’s since had eight hours of surgery to reattach his thumb.
Enquiries are still ongoing to locate the other offenders involved in this incident.
Praneeta Mahajan is an Indian Newslink correspondent based in Hamilton.
