Robber changes mind

Press, 31 January 1986, Page 2

Robber changes mind

PA Tauranga A young man who robbed a Te Puke restaurant on Wednesday had second thoughts and returned the money two hours later.

At 7.25 p.m. a man entered the Park Avenue Restaurant in Jellicoe Street and demanded that the receptionist hand over the cash In her drawer. He had a towel over his arm covering something in his hand. She suspected it was a weapon, so she complied. At his instruction, the receptionist also pulled the extension telephone from the wall before he left.

No customers were in the restaurant at the time of the robbery.

About 9.30 a.m. the restaurant’s proprietor, Mr Michael de Rosbo, received a telephone call from a person who said he was the young man's father. The caller said he had just found out about the robbery and wished to return the money.

Father and son returned to the restaurant soon after, returned the cash, and apologised profusely. By that time the matter had been put in the hands of the police. The father gave a name

and address to Mr de Rosbo but these could not be traced, the Te Puke police said. The police were not discounting a connection between Wednesday’s incident and the robbery of the Golden Lantern takeaway bar in Te Puke last Friday evening. The person In Wednesday’s robbery is described as aged about 18, about 177 cm tall, of slim build, with short black hair. He was wearing a longsleeved blue denim jacket, blue jeans and a white T-shirt.

He left a pair of sunglasses at the scene.