Auckland robberies: Dairy, site of killing, targeted by armed intruders twice in one day

As Auckland dairy manager John* watched a group of knife-wielding teenagers escape in a stolen car with three of his cash tills, he could not have imagined it would be less than 12 hours until his store was targeted by another armed intruder.

Police are investigating both the aggravated robbery on Monday morning at Finlayson Superette in Clendon Park and a later botched attempt at the same store where a man brandishing a knife went behind the counter before fleeing empty-handed.

Police do not believe the incidents are linked and the culprits remain at large.

The horror day has left the fed-up shopkeeper fearing any customer could turn armed robber.

It is the same dairy where young electronics student Saishwar Krishna Naidu was stabbed to death in a botched robbery on January 25, 2008 by a young man later found not guilty of murder because he was deemed criminally insane at the time of the killing.

A group of four boys and a girl arrived on Monday shortly after 10am in a stolen car. As a getaway driver waited in the vehicle, four of the teenagers burst in armed with large knives, John said.

His first thought was for his pregnant wife, who was working in the store alongside him.

“I tried to protect her first,” said John.

“I took her to the side and we ran to the back - actually, to a storeroom.”

The Finlayson Superette in Clendon Park's Finlayson Avenue sits in a cluster of shops which includes a bottle shop and a laundrette. Photo / George Block

He slammed the panic alarm as the robbers jumped over the counter to ransack tobacco from the cabinets.

The group took all three cash tills before fleeing. The tills contained upwards of $1000 and the group made a serious mess in the store, including breaking the bars near the counter.

In-store CCTV captured the robbery, but the group were all masked and wearing gloves.

Police say their stolen car was found nearby but the group remains at large. The investigation continues.

As John picked up the pieces after the robbery, a man in his 30s sauntered into the superette, initially acting like just another customer.

He then snuck around the counter and brandished a knife.

John leapt over the counter, ran outside and called the police.

The man remained in the store before leaving, apparently empty-handed.

Saishwar Krishna Naidu was stabbed 15 times and died at the Finlayson Superette in Clendon Park, Manurewa on January 25, 2008.

John has worked at the dairy for nine years and says things are getting worse every day. John now watches every customer, fearing they too might launch into a robbery at any minute.

“I feel like anybody’s going to kill me.”

Petty crimes such as brazen thefts are increasingly common.

He called on parents to take more responsibility for their children and for more efforts to be made to ensure young teenagers remain in school.

“There’s no respect.”

Police say they are treating both robberies on Monday as unrelated.

A police spokesman appealed for anyone with information on the aggravated robbery to call 105 and quote the file number 230731/8777.

Anyone who saw the man from the bungled robbery, last seen heading down Templeton Pl, joined by a lane to Finlayson Ave, was also asked to call 105 with file number 230731/0305.

*Not his real name. The owner requested anonymity.