Customers waited while robber worked

Press, 12 February 1986, Page 1

Customers waited while robber worked

Impatient customers continued to press the counter bells at the Lichfield Street T.A.B. yesterday morning, unaware that’ the teller was bound and gagged, and that a masked robber was emptying the safe a few metres away. The woman was finally freed by another staff member after the robber had fled through a side door with about $4OO. Detective Sergeant Mike Muddiman said that

the teller, aged in her mid-30s, had arrived at the premises about 9.50 a.m. to prepare for opening. She went in through a side door, unlocked the front door from the inside, then was attacked from behind as she walked back into the rear office. The robber, believed to be a Maori or Polynesian, threw her to the floor of the office, stuffed her mouth with paper, and bound her with black in-

sulation tape. By this time punters were lined up at the front counter, pressing the buzzers for service.

The robber put the contents of the unlocked safe in a yellow or light brown bag with a rope shoulder strap, and left through a side door that opens into Lichfield Street next to the exit ramp from the Lichfield Street car-park. T.A.B. patrons did not know that anything had happened until another staff member arrived a few minutes late for work. , The woman teller was badly shaken but was not physically hurt. Detectives believe that someone must have seen the robber leave the T.A.B. Anyone with information should get in touch with the Christchurch C. 1.8. persons squad. The robber, who was wearing a balaclava, was about 180 cm tall, of medium build, with dark skin. He was wearing a watch on the left wrist. No weapon was used in the robbery.