Witness to Pt Chev bar armed robbery says group punched barman and fired shot into television

Harlequin Bar on Great North Rd in Pt Chevalier was hit by armed robbers shortly after midnight.

Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air

A witness to this morning’s armed robbery of the Harlequins Bar in Point Chevalier has recounted the five minutes of mayhem as robbers threatened staff and fired a shotgun.

The man, who wanted to be identified only as Steven, said there were about 15 people in the pokie room at the bar about 12.30am. The bar has 18 pokie machines.

There was also one guy “a bit drunk” sitting by himself in the bar and two staff members – one who was in the pokie room paying out a winner and the other at the bar.

Steven said one girl came in screaming. “I thought it was maybe a fight, someone had too much alcohol, then the bar manager yelled out, ‘We are being robbed’.

“We knew it was more serious than we thought.

“One bar staff member was in the bar and tried to shut the doors but it kept getting caught on the rollers and everyone was panicking.”

The pokie room is down a set of stairs at the back, about 20 metres from the bar.

Police stand guard outside Harlequin Bar in Pt Chevalier after this morning's armed robbery.

“There were a few people carrying money who tried to hide their money under the machines so it wouldn’t get stolen if the armed men came in,” Steven said.

“I had about $80 on my machine.

“One guy who was two machines from me, a big guy, says, ‘I’ll go and sort this out’. He went out, saw the gun and what was going on and said, ‘F... that. I’ll leave that’.”

Steven said the gunman was yelling at the barman, ‘Where’s the rest of the money?’ The barman was saying, ‘That’s all we got’.

“As he was getting the cash out, the gunman punched him in the head.

“Then he fired a shot into the TV to scare him and tried to reload but his shotgun jammed.

“It was mindless – the bar person was doing what he was told.

“We thought, ‘Oh yeah, being robbed’ but when the gun went off we knew it was serious. There was an old dude about 80 next to me and he said he was sh...ing himself.

“It was all over in five minutes. As the bar staff were on the phone to police, we got the registration number. The police were five minutes away but the robbers had gone.”

The punters in the bar had to stay to give police statements.

Steven, a local, said it was not a pleasant experience.

Police believe the armed robbers are the same ones who hit a bar about a kilometre away on Wednesday night in similar circumstances and a nearby vape store last night.

“One person has fired a shot inside the premises which has struck a TV on a wall behind the bar,” Detective Senior Sergeant Ash Matthews said of the Harlequin incident.

“The offenders have taken money from the tills and gaming machines before fleeing. It’s incredibly lucky no [one] was physically injured during this incident.”

A photographer at the scene this morning saw detectives inside the premises while armed police stood guard outside, while a smashed cash register tray lay on the ground.

Steven said he believed the robbers got away with about $5000.

Joseph Los’e joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for 12 years for Te Whānau o Waipareira.