Are retailers having to take justice into their own hands?
Saturday, 29 June 2024
A jewellery store worker drove armed robbers away with a Sikh ceremonial sword.
The worker said that at the time he thought using the sword against the hammer-wielding attackers would have been “the best justice”.
Stuff asked the Police Minister, the Labour police spokesperson, a detective and a local business advocate if they thought more retailers were taking matters into their own hands.
Armed with a large ceremonial sword, a South Auckland jewellery store worker was captured on CCTV earlier this week fighting back masked robbers who had brutally attacked his father.
The robbery gone wrong saw 50-year-old Gurdeep Singh hit over the head with a hammer multiple times at Pooja Jewellers in Papatoetoe.
Minutes after the attack began, Gurdeep’s son, Sunny Singh, appeared brandishing a ceremonial sword that he used to drive the attackers out of the store.
‘They hurt dad, so I felt like it would have been fair if I hurt them’
Speaking to Stuff after the robbery, Sunny said he hadn’t planned to use the sword to defend his family, but as the robbers attacked his father he ran to the back of the store to grab anything he could find to stop them.
“For me, the situation had become life or death, they’d hit Dad over the head with the hammer and stabbed him in the neck with a knife with teeth.
“Then I saw this ceremonial sword we had - it’s a ceremonial sword that Sikh men often use at weddings,” Sunny said.
Sunny ran back out into the store front, and positioned himself between his mother and father, and the attackers.
“As a son my reaction was to protect my family. I wasn’t in a rage or anything like that, I was almost numb.
“I think it’s what any son would have done if they saw their father lying on the ground with blood gushing out of their head.”
Sunny previously told Stuff his only regret about the incident was not using the sword against the attackers. He said he would have done so had his mother not held him back.
“They hurt dad, so I felt like it would have been fair if I hurt them,” Sunny said .
But after a few days of reflection, he was pleased he hadn’t used the sword, “but there was definitely a part of me as a son that feels that it would have been the best justice at the time”.
Police have since arrested three teenagers who they allege were involved in the Pooja Jewellers attack.
“There’s a sense that something like this could have been stopped. So who do you blame? Is it the justice system? Or the Government? Or society? Or the police?”
Sunny said he never would have thought he’d have to consider keeping a weapon with him at work, but after the attack it was something he had to “seriously” consider.
“Would I like to keep a weapon with me at work? No. But these attackers got through four layers of security to even be in the store.
“I’d rather I felt safe at work but I think a lot of retailers will have mixed feelings about how they protect themselves.”
On Wednesday, a man was sentenced to life imprisonment after fatally stabbing dairy worker Janak Patel, who had chased after the armed robber with a hockey stick in an attempt to retrieve stolen cash in November 2022.
“Luckily my father’s a big man. He’s 115kg and 6’1. But if this someone else, we could have seen another Janak Patel,” Sunny said.
In the past two months alone, there have also been reports of service station employees having to use fog canons to deter hammer-wielding thieves and a Masterton local using a softball bat to fight off a prospective burglar.
So, is New Zealand seeing more retail workers take matters into their own hands? And should they be?
Stuff asked the Police Minister, the Labour police spokesperson, a detective and a local business advocate what they thought. Here’s what they said.
‘This is a very difficult one’, Police Minister says
Police Minister Mark Mitchell told Stuff “this is a very difficult one”.
“Obviously I don’t want anyone ever to put themselves in position where they might be hurt.
“But in this case I have no doubt in my mind that Sunny coming to the aid of his father, mother and sister, in my view, saved his father’s life,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said he thought Sunny was “extremely brave” and wanted to recognise that, but noted that “on the flip side of it, I’d appeal to people not to put themselves in a position where they might be seriously hurt, or worse”.
Sunday night’s armed robbery had filled him with more resolve to turn crime around in New Zealand and get “us back on track to being the safest country in the world, instead of one where we see these awful, violent retail crimes,” he said.
Labour police spokesperson says: ‘There is no simple answer’
For Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen, “there is no simple answer”.
Andersen told Stuff she was “heartbroken” to hear about the Papatoetoe armed robbery and was “deeply concerned” about the safety of retail workers.
“It is unacceptable for Kiwis to be put in such dangerous situations and I will continue to meet with affected communities, police, community organisations and others to work out how we can stop this from happening.
“There is no simple answer, but I am committed to helping find a solution,” Andersen said.
‘Retailers shouldn’t take matters into their own hands’, says police investigator
On Wednesday, 501 deportee Frederick Hobson was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering dairy worker Janak Patel in November 2022.
Patel had been working in the Rose Cottage Superette in Auckland’s Sandringham , when Hobson ran into the dairy armed with a knife.
Hobson stole the cash register, and left the dairy - but Patel chased after him with a hockey stick in an attempt to retrieve the stolen cash. Hobson then stabbed Patel to death.
Speaking to Stuff after Hobson’s sentencing, Detective Inspector Geoff Baber said that no retailer should be taking matters into their own hands.
“They’re putting themselves as well as their customers at risk and it’s a matter of just keeping themselves safe and making sure they come out the other end of it, so we don’t end up with a situation like Janak’s,” Baber said.
Campaigner argues ‘every Kiwi should be safe at work’
Dairy and Business Owners Group chair Sunny Kaushal said “it is absolutely unacceptable for any Kiwi to live in fear while contributing positively to society”.
Kaushal said he thought New Zealand was becoming “more violent every day”, and was urgently asking the Government to re-define the laws around self-defence.
“New Zealand should be the safest country in the world, where members of our community can go to work and feel secure.
“The Government must take immediate and decisive action to ensure the safety of its citizens,” he said.