GARAGE HOLD-UP

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 261, 2 August 1939, Page 5

GARAGE HOLD-UP

Attendant Knocked Senseless TWO MEN STEAL £3O Holding up a garage attendant, allegedly at revolver point, then knocking him senseless, two men robbed a Wellington garage of about £3O shortly before midnight last night. They left him unconscious and bleeding in his office, and had run away before he could recover to give the alarm. The scene of the robbery was Sherwin and Morton, Ltd.’s service station, Wakefield Street. The attendant, Mr. Charles Williams, 38 Hay Street, Wellington, had closed the station shortly after 11 p.m. and was cashing up before leaving for his home. It had been a busy night, numerous motor-vehicle owners having purchased petrol in anticipation of the higher prices to rule today as a result of the Budget. Mr. Williams was called to the door of his office by a peremptory knocking. Opening it he was confronted by two men who, it is stated, commanded him to “Hold them up,” at the same time forcing him backward into the office at the point of a revolver. Without further preliminaries they struck him savagely on the forehead with some instrument which he believes was a gun. He fell to the lloor unconscious after vainly trying to defend himself. When he recovered consciousness shortly before midnight Mr. Williams, who was bleeding from the wound on his forehead, discovered that the night’s takings had been removed from the office. He staggered to the telephone and managed to call the Central Police station.

He was unable to give any clear description of the intruders, nor could he say whether they had arrived in a car or on foot. The Free Ambulance was called and Mr. Williams was taken to the public hospital. His injuries were found to consist of a lacerated wound to the forehead, an injury to the back of the head and another to the left wrist. His condition was reported early this morning as not serious.

Detectives immediately began a search for Mr. Williams’s assailants.