MAN WITH A GUN IN HIS HAND

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30498, 21 July 1964, Page 1

MAN WITH A GUN IN HIS HAND

(N Z. Press Association) INVERCARGILL,

July 20. The proprietor of the Colac Bay Hotel, Mr P. McClinchey, on Sunday night was forced by an armed masked man to open the safe and cash register and hand over to the gunman between £2OO and £3OO in cash.

“1 answered the door about 10.30. When I opened it 1 saw a masked man there, pointing what looked like a sawn-off .303 rifle at me. He said: 'Put them up. It’s a hold-up. I want your takings’.

“The man wore a balaclava over his head, and bad on a light duffel coat and lace-up gumboots,” said Mr MeClinchy.

“I thought he was fooling, and asked him what the score was. The man replied: ‘lt’s a stick up. I want your takings’. “He told me to go ahead and get the money. He had his rifle pointed at me all the time. 1 went to the till and opened it. There was about £l5 in cash and notes in it so 1 gave it to him. He wanted the whole lot so 1 gave him the drawer. “He became excited, and his voice was high pitched. He asked me where the safe was.

“1 opened the safe and gave him the money from it. When I banded it to him, he became more excited. “He said something to the

effect for me to stay where 1 was. He slammed the office door and the back door, on the way out He got into a car, and headed for Rivertion,” said Mr McClinchey. Mrs McClinchey was in the kitchen during the man’s visit which lasted, Mr McClinchey estimates, about three or four minutes.

“She opened the door and saw the man with a hood over his head. He had his back to her, and she then knew something was wrong,” he said. “We had discussed what to do if anything like this ever happened. She climbed out the window and raced to the nearest telephone about 300 yards away. When the man slammed the back door, Mr McClinchey went back inside and telephoned Constable P. Keown, of Riverton. AU roads leading from

Colac Bay were blocked by police.

Two detectives and the Superintendent of the Southland police district, Mr J. H. Alty, went to the hotel. Mr Alty asked for information about a 1954 or 1957 maroon Vauxhall car seen in the area earlier on Sunday night.

The three McClinchey children, Phillipa, aged 5, John, aged 4, and 13-montb-old David, slept through it all. Mr McClinchey has a chance of getting between £7O and £BO from cheques that were in the bag with the other money. “We will have them cancelled,” he said.

He praised the way the police quickly started the search.

“The organisation was terrific,” he said. "Within five or 10 minutes, they had the area cordoned off."