Papatoetoe hammer attack robbery victim Gurdeep Singh speaks out

Gurdeep Singh suffered a skull fracture and cuts after teen robbers used a hammer and knife to violently bash and stab him at his South Auckland jewellery shop on Sunday, June 23. Speaking about the attack for the first time, he tells Lincoln Tan he holds their parents accountable.

Speaking about the brutal attack that left him bleeding on the ground, Singh, 50, told the Herald he hasn’t been able to sleep and is feeling anger towards the criminal justice system.

Armed teenage robbers entered Singh’s family-owned jewellery store Pooja Jewellers on Kolmar Road as they were closing that Sunday, and he was hit over the head with a hammer and slashed multiple times as he tried to defend his family and store.

The act was captured on CCTV and the attackers stopped only after his son Sunny Singh fought back with a large ceremonial sword.

Police first arrested three teenagers aged 15, 16, and 17, and charged them with aggravated robbery with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

On Thursday, police arrested another 16-year-old male, who appeared in the Manukau Youth Court charged with aggravated robbery, and a 36-year-old woman who was charged with being an accessory after the fact to aggravated robbery, and receiving property.

Jewellery store owner, Gurdeep Singh, 50, wants parents of young offenders to be held accountable. Photo / Jason Dorday

Singh moved to New Zealand from Punjab in 1986 and said he was the first specialist Punjabi jeweller when his family opened their first jewellery store in 2004.

“I remember everything. I was in my workshop making jewellery and repairing something, then I heard a scream, a few screams,” he said.

“I looked over and I saw my daughter screaming from one side of the shop, and I heard a bang.

“By that time I gathered, within a second or two, that we were being robbed.”

Jewellery store owner, Gurdeep Singh, 50, is still recovering from his injuries at his home two weeks after he was attacked. Photo / Jason Dorday

Singh said he had installed a security grille at his shop for safety and ran towards it to ensure it was locked but the robbers had managed to force their way in.

“Then I thought ‘maybe I will be able to push them out of the shop’, so this is what I remember, pushing them out of the shop,” he said.

“One of them, he had something in his hand. He comes out from between the bars and started hitting and slashing and within no time I was bleeding from one side of my head.”

Singh said his wife came out to support and help him, begging the attackers to “please don’t hit, don’t hit”.

“But he was so aggressive that he hit me with a hammer.”

Singh said that was the point at which he fell to the ground.

Gurdeep Singh says he hasn't had a restful night's sleep since the attack. Photo / Jason Dorday

His 23-year-old son Sunny Singh then went to the back of the shop and took out a ceremonial sword, holding his ground against the attackers.

“I remember saying to Sunny twice ‘Let them have it, let them have it’. But by then it was all over,” Singh said.

He believed Sunny brandished the sword to defend the family from the attackers “in the heat of the moment.

“I mean, your father is on the ground bleeding to death, and all your earnings on the table were being taken away, and you have a mother, sister and customer with kids in danger,” Singh said.

“It’s a reactional thing, and I think anybody would have done the same.”

Singh said he didn’t even remember they had kept the sword at the shop until his son was wielding it.

About 200 business owners and supporters staged a protest in Papatoetoe on Tuesday. Photo / Dean Purcell

Sunny Singh had told the Herald in an earlier interview that he regretted not using the sword against the robbers, but said upon reflection he was glad he didn’t.

It was the first time a violent crime like this had happened to the family in the 11 years that they had run the business in Papatoetoe.

“The anger towards the system is more than the anger towards these individuals, to be honest,” Singh told the Herald.

“They [the government] have not been able to do anything to prevent these kinds of robberies and attacks, and it’s [become] an everyday kind of thing.”

On Tuesday, about 200 business owners shut their shops for one hour in support of the family and staged a protest calling for tougher punishments for youth offenders.

Lawyer Haseeb Ashraf, who spoke at the protest, said: “It is a very sad situation when someone’s son had to pick up a sword, a kirpan, to defend his family.

“It was his religious obligation and his social obligation when his family was under attack.

“But that should never have to be the case, because the state, the Government, and the police should have taken steps to ensure that such crimes never happen.”

Indian business owners protest in Papatoetoe calling for stronger punishment for youth offenders. Photo / Dean Purcell

Ashraf said the situation could have escalated.

“The Government needs to enact laws and have increased police presence in communities like Papatoetoe, where hardworking shop workers and their families are going through a very hard time now due to the recession,” he said.

“It’s very important that the Government takes steps towards enacting legislation for stricter laws.”

Local business and community leaders outside Pooja Jewellers the day after the aggravated robbery. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Singh and his family opened their first jewellery store in 2004, and today have three across Auckland.

He did not agree with the argument that criminals should be treated with compassion just because they came from backgrounds of neglect, violence and abusive families.

“I came to New Zealand 36 years ago with no money, literally slept on the floor using my handbag as my pillow,” he said.

“In India, I had to work hard for my money. I walked miles and miles, working for $4 per hour in 45-degree temperatures. If I asked for a day off, they’d say ‘Go home, don’t come back’.

“Everything we own today, it’s not stolen stuff. What right does someone else have to come and just take that away even if they came from hard background,” he said.

“Feeling sorry for criminals and slapping them on the hand with wet tissue paper is not going to change anything.”

Police and ambulance staff outside Pooja Jewellers after the armed robbery. Photo / Baljinder Randhawa Sonu

Singh was this week re-elected as chairman of the Hunters Corner Town Centre Association.

He told the Herald a reduction in crime will be a top priority for him in the role.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell visiting Gurdeep Singh in Auckland Hospital the day after he was attacked.

Since the attack, Singh said he hasn’t had a single night of restful sleep.

“I get up two, three times a night, checking that all windows are closed. Sometimes I turn on the outside lights because I feel like someone may be outside,” he said.

“When my son wakes up, even to get a glass of water, I’ll run out to check if he’s alright because I think something could happen.

“We work hard, long 10-hour days. For me, it is to provide for my family. I pay my taxes. What have I done to deserve this?” Singh asked.

Singh believed parents of child offenders should be held accountable when their children commit serious crimes.

“If you don’t know where your 13-year-old kid is in the middle of the night or in the daytime, then you should be held accountable for that,” he said.

Last month, the Government announced new measures to tackle youth crime including harsher penalties of up to 10 years’ imprisonment for teenagers between 14 and 17 who have committed two offences.

Serious youth offenders may be sent to military-style boot camps.

“The kids don’t know the value of the things ... taking $100,000, $200,000 or in some cases millions of dollars worth of jewellery, what are they going to do with that,” he said.

“They are back on the streets again next week, doing the same s*** again.”