There were only seconds for Balkaran Singh to react to his sister Harneet Kaur’s warning before the armed robber’s hatchet came swinging towards him.
Singh has owned Cornwall Park Store in Hastings since November and was getting ready to close on Tuesday night about 7.30pm when a man in a blue ski mask and hoodie burst in and attacked him before demanding money.
CCTV from several angles captured the horrifying incident, from the swinging of the hatchet to Singh’s valiant attempts to shield himself and calm the man so that he could hand him a cash tray full of money, and then, lastly, the robber tripping and falling into a roadside store sign as he fled.
“I was sitting down behind the counter and my sister had just finished serving a customer who wanted chips, so she went over to the fryer the chips were in and she turned around and saw him walking in,” Singh told Hawke’s Bay Today.
“I was faced away, so I didn’t see him walk in. She was like, ‘Watch out!’, and by then I looked back and he was swinging an axe at me.”
“I luckily jumped out of the way in time, but I hit the fridge corner. I fell by [a] chair, so I put up the chair to defend myself,” Singh said.
Singh said he felt the wind of the hatchet as it glanced past his shoulder and said if the robber had turned the blade the right way, it would’ve lodged in his shoulder.
He said the man demanded money, giving Singh a five-second countdown to hand over before he came around the counter.
“He had gloves on, so it wasn’t his first time doing it. He knew what to do, how long it takes,” Singh said.
“I just gave him the cash tray. He ran out and as he was running out, he fell on the footpath which scattered all the coins, but he managed to take all the notes.”
The man escaped in a red four-door sedan with an estimated $900 in cash.
Singh felt “scared and sore”, had a cut and doctors had told him his rib was possibly fractured.
“They said I was lucky nothing major had happened to my ribs. My lungs were fine, but they said there could be a minor fracture which won’t come up on an X-ray.”
He said he had never been the victim of a robbery before, but it felt unusual how the man attacked him before demanding money.
The incident comes amid several other raids of Hawke’s Bay stores. On Tuesday morning, the Manna Family Store in Napier was hit by a ram-raid.
Police later arrested several youths after spiking a stolen vehicle allegedly used in the ram-raid.
Police are also investigating a daytime robbery which occurred at Pascoes The Jewellers in Napier on Wednesday.
A police statement said police were notified of an aggravated robbery at a commercial premises on Hastings St just before 5pm.
“Offenders took jewellery before fleeing the scene in a vehicle,” the statement said.
No one was injured during the incident, police said.
The statement said police were conducting inquiries into the incident.
A police van and police tape were outside the Pascoes Napier store on Thursday morning and the shutters remained down after 9am, when the store would normally be open.
A Pascoes Napier staff member said staff had “no comment right now” when approached by Hawke’s Bay Today.
Two months ago, Michael Hill Jeweller stores introduced security guards to all their North Island stores after a daytime raid at the Michael Hill Hastings store.
Singh said there might appear to be a school holiday crime wave in Hawke’s Bay, but he felt there was a high risk of crime at all times as a dairy worker. He never expected he’d be swung at, though.
“Recently we had a teen trying to steal some vapes, but she got caught and trespassed. We were a bit more aware, but never thought someone would just walk in with an axe and swing at me - it was kind of out of nowhere.”
He said he was still coming back in to work because he didn’t have another choice.
“You’ve got to work. You can’t just close the dairy and be like, ‘No, I am not coming back in.’ But it is always in the back of your head; [you’re] a bit more alert and wary of what is happening around you.”
Police asked anyone who recognised the man or his distinctive clothing to come forward and speak with them.
“You can contact police by calling 105 and quoting 230704/8865. Information can also be shared anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.”
James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz.