$107,000 taken in supermarket hold-up

Press, 8 June 1989, Page 3

$107,000 taken in supermarket hold-up

By

BARRY CLARKE

The armed man who held up two security guards at a Shirley supermarket on Saturday fled with $107,000, the police revealed yesterday. The carefully planned raid on the Woolworths branch netted the gunman and the getaway driver, $BO,OOO cash and cheques. The day’s takings were in a bag carried by two Securitas guards.

Seven detectives were working on the case, but at this stage they had few leads, said Detective Sergeant Don Fisher yesterday. Two men, aged 21 and 27, were interviewed by the Wellington C. 1.8. when they got off the Picton ferry yesterday. They had aroused suspicion by spending large sums of money in Picton. “They haven’t been completely eliminated, but it doesn’t look likely that they were involved,” said Detective Sergeant Fisher. One of the men was arrested for alleged possession of LSD. "Obviously we want to hear from anyone who sees guys flashing large amounts of money about.” Detective Sergeant Fisher said it was anybody’s guess what the offenders would do with the money. “The money may have already been spent before they got it,” he said. The police are also appealing for information

from Avonside residents. The gunman, a Maori or Polynesian aged in his 20s, was last seen running through a Morris Street section towards Silverdale Place which runs to Retreat Road. The driver, a European in his mid 30s with blond or brown shoulder-length hair, was last seen running on to a property in Galbraith Avenue. “There’s been no feedback from the public as yet,” said Detective Sergeant Fisher. Two cars were used in the hold-up, a green Holden Kingswood stolen from the Linwood City Mall on Friday, and a brown Holden Premier, stolen from Jacobs Street, St Albans, on the afternoon of the robbery.

“We can’t eliminate the possibility a third vehicle was left in the Avonside area,” said Detective Sergeant Fisher. The police have reacted to claims by the branch manager of Securitas, Mr Tom Caldwell, that they took too long to respond

to the hold-up. The police did not arrive at the scene until 5.45 p.m., well after the 4.03 p.m. robbery, he said. Detective Senior-Ser-geant John Doyle said the police response to the robbery was concentrated on the area around Morris Street because of the fear a hostage could be taken. “From persons we interviewed, it was indicated there could have been a hostage in a house (in Morris Street),” he said.

“It is always a very dangerous situation when an offender is on foot with a firearm.” The Woolworths robbery was the fifth armed hold-up of security guards in Christchurch in the last year. The others were:

© January 20: A man used ether spray to overpower the driver of a security van carrying $335,674 in cash and cheques picked up from the Main North Road Countdown Supermarket. The offender drove the van to Vagues Road,

transferred the money to another vehicle, but abandoned it and the haul when the car failed to start. He was caught later. © October 13: A shot-gun-wielding robber fled with $6OOO in takings from two security guards as they left McDonald’s Family Restaurant, Merivale. A shot was fired in the hold-up. The offender fled in the security

guard’s van. © July 29: A gunman made off with $75 in cash and cheques after holding up a security van outside the Linwood Mall supermarket. © June 25: A man armed with a sawn-off, double-barrel shotgun robbed two security guards as they walked to their van at Shirley Liquorland.