Shop man hit on head with bat

Press, 2 July 1983, Page 1

Shop man hit on head with bat

The battering on the head with a softball bat of a supermarket attendant in Linwood last evening ended two days of violent incidents that stretched Christchurch’s police resources. What the police said was a “vicious” attack on the shop attendant resulted in two masked robbers escaping with $3OO from the till. The police said that the attendant had been in the rear of the Keystore shop, at 282 Ferry Road, about 8.20 p.m. when he heard what he took to be customers in the front part of the store. When he went out to serve them, the attendant was hit on the head with a softball bat. His attackers then rifled the till. Both were wearing balaclavas over their faces. One was described as being about 173 cm (sft Bin) tall, of solid build, and wearing a two-tone blue tracksuit. The other robber was about 180 cm (sft Ilin) tall, and wearing what was believed to be a green tracksuit. A police patrol followed the robbers’ trail to nearby Short Street, but lost it where a car had been parked. The shop attendant, although badly bruised, was not admitted to hospital. In four incidents on Thursday evening, the

police had to contend with a wild brawl at the Marine Tavern in Sumner, in which five persons suffered stab wounds; an armed robbery in which a group of masked men terrorised a woman in her North Beach home; and two post office burglaries. A barmaid at the Marine Tavern underwent surgery at Burwood Hospital yesterday for a knife cut on the knuckles. Injuries to the other persons included stab wounds to the shoulder and stomach, and deep cuts to shoulders and arms. A police spokesman said that the police were still looking for some of the 10 to 15 members of the Mongrel Mob gang who were involved in the fight in the tavern’s public bar. The gang members had fled when the police arrived, and no arrests had been made by last evening. A North Beach woman who lives alone was forced to lie on her bedroom floor and was covered by a bedspread while a group of masked men ransacked her home. They took video and stereo equipment, cameras, and liquor worth a total of $5OOO.

The woman had been watching television in bed about 11.40 p.m. when she heard thumping and the sound of breaking glass. She went to investigate and was confronted at her bedroom door by a man who flourished an object, believed to be a knife or a poker, at her throat. The man ordered her to lie on the floor, covered her with a bedspread, and stood over her while others searched the house. The man was a European, 173 cm (sft Bin) tall, with short, black, curly hair. He wore a black jacket and spoke with an educated voice, the woman said. She thought that there were three other intruders. No arrest had been made by last evening. In one of two post office burglaries on Thursday night, intruders used gascutting equipment to hack the side out of a safe at the Hoon Hay Post Office in Sparks Road. They got away with a small sum. Nothing at all was stolen in the other burglary, of the South Brighton Post Office in Estuary Road. The North New Brighton Post Office was closed recently after a series of robberies and burglaries.