An English pharmacist seeking a quiet life in Waihi is the hero of the small town after he bashed an armed robber who had taken his boss hostage.
Mark Williams arrived from England six months ago and got a job as pharmacist with John Barron at his Waihi pharmacy.
Yesterday, Mr Williams
was nursing a small cut to his hand after he and a customer used a metal pipe to subdue a robber and take his knife.
The man had taken Mr Barron hostage and ordered him to drive off in Mr Barron's car.
Mr Williams was too shaken to talk yesterday, but Mr Barron said he was a hero.
Had Mr Williams and the customer not intervened, "who knows what would have happened".
He said the robber demanded drugs and syringes and then told Mr Barron he would take a woman staff member hostage.
"My concern was to protect my staff. He initially wanted one of the girls in their car but I offered myself."
Mr Barron and the robber went to the carpark and were about to leave when Mr Williams and a customer hit the man on the head with the steel pipe, wrestled him to the ground and disarmed him.
They sat on him until police arrived moments later.
The man was taken to Waikato Hospital with a head wound.
- NZPA
