Whangārei dairy owners fearing for their lives after alleged Auckland robbery murder

Destination Dairy owner Jayesh Patel has hit out at the Government's lack of action. Photo / Jaime Lyth

Northland dairy owners who are fed up with fearing for their lives are calling for stronger youth laws and punishment to stop aggravated robberies against their businesses.

Yesterday dairies nationwide closed their doors as part of the nationwide “vigil” for slain Auckland dairy worker Janak Patel.

Patel, 34, was fatally stabbed last week following an alleged aggravated robbery at the Rose Cottage Superette in Sandringham, Auckland.

A universal feeling of hopelessness was clear from dairy owners who closed their doors across Whangārei yesterday.

Destination Dairy owner Jayesh Patel, based in Whangārei, was among the shops closing their doors at 12.30pm for the two-hour vigil.

Patel spoke out at what he said was the Government’s lack of action around protecting dairy owners and their staff.

“They don’t want to change the law,” he said.

“We had to put the bollards [up] so no one can ram raid [us] with a car. But now they’ve started to (allegedly) murder.”

Following the protests, the Government announced a multi-million dollar package to tackle retail crime and reoffending.

“While youth crime is now much lower than in the past, the risks and harm from ram raids and other retail crime is concerning communities and creating victims,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

A group of 60 dairy owners, workers and members of the local community gathered in protest outside the Whangārei Labour electorate office yesterday.

Ralph Correa of the Northland Indian Association said protesters were standing in solidarity with the man who was killed and wanted to protest at a lack of action on crime.

“We want a safer community and we want people held to justice,” he said. ”There’s a lot of talk and [the Government] saying there’s minimal crime when it’s just the opposite.”

Whangārei MP Emily Henderson invited protesters into her office to discuss the issues, which included access to the Crime Prevention Fund.

“We all crammed in and we had quite a good discussion,” Henderson said. “Obviously, the community’s in real grief because what happened was horrific.”

She has agreed to meet with the group again, and discuss their concerns with Cabinet and the wider Government.

Work is already happening in Whangārei to help reduce retail crime, Henderson added, with local agencies working together.

“That’s one thing I’ve been actively working on with police and MSD as well as council,” she said.

Henderson said the amount of youth crime was now declining, with ram-raids down 83 per cent.

The Government announced yesterday it will establish a new fog cannon subsidy scheme open to all small shops and dairies in New Zealand that want a fog cannon installed.

“Funding of $4000 will be available for each shop who will be able to have the fog cannon installed through an approved supplier, meaning they can access them directly without an onerous process. Additional details will be released shortly,” Prime Minister Ardern said.

Northland retail businesses are increasingly turning to security guards for protection in the wake of recent ram raids, robberies and burglaries.

Ardern told AM the Government will be discussing whether crime prevention programmes are reaching everyone they need to, as well as how it can work with councils more to deliver strengthened security.

Ardern said young people charged with a crime that carries a sentence of 14 years, such as aggravated robbery, can already be punished through the youth courts.

Currently, children aged over 10 but under 14 are subject to the adult criminal justice system. But they may avoid conviction if it can be shown they didn’t know their actions were wrong or illegal.

At the same time, however, the Oranga Tamariki Act allows for children aged 10 to 13 years to be charged with serious offences such as murder or manslaughter.

The Korna Store in Morningside was only just recently robbed by several youths on Sunday morning last week.

“My wife was here ... she was shaken,” said the owner, who did not want to be named.

It’s not the first robbery that the owners have suffered, two youths were arrested and one was bitten by a police dog after vandalising cars and robbing the Korna Store dairy in July.

“The last robbery that happened in July, they got one guy out of five or six, he was called to the youth court and I think he is under surveillance now. Nothing else.

“We’re just trying to say, take some action now.”

Dairy owners appear to increasingly believe youth are robbing dairies for enjoyment, rather than for money, due to a lack of consequences.

“Even cops are bound, they can’t do anything, they say the same thing if any robberies happen, even if they [catch] the kids that did the robbery, they can’t get punished.”

A call for action on the outside wall of the Ngunguru Foodmart.

Locals gathered around the closed doors of the popular Ngunguru Food Market, which was splayed with posters calling for action put up by the manager, who didn’t want to be named.

“Every dairy owner will tell you the same thing, the law should be changed for the teenager because they know ... they can get away with it if police catch them,” the Ngunguru Food Market manager said.

“The funny part is the police know all about [the thieves], they know where they live and they’re on their record.”

The dairy manager said while he doesn’t blame the police for the crimes, the lack of police communication and punishment for offenders is frustrating.

“[Police] said, we’re just going through the law ... if it’s a teenager I have to go through the procedure.

“They said it’s under due process, one of the guys is caught and they have taken them to youth court in Auckland. That’s it.”

It took less than a day for the manager and staff of Tutukaka General Store to find thieves reselling stolen goods online after being robbed in July.

A Northland dairy owner told the Advocate they had been robbed twice this year by young kids and they feel increasingly unsafe at work.

“The crime is increasing day by day and it’s not safe for us, not for any small businesses because we work hard here and they just come in and rob us and now they’ve started killing,” said the dairy owner.

“No matter how old they are ... they have to get punished.

“If they are doing this at this age, what are they going to do after eighteen?”.

Despite the spotlight on youth crime and our responses to it, New Zealand is among a number of countries criticised by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child for retaining an unacceptably low age of criminal responsibility.

Even politicians calling for a tougher approach to youth crime seem to agree that keeping children out of the criminal justice system should be a priority, particularly for young and first-time offenders, University of Waikato Professor of Law Claire Breen said.

Minor offences by youth are dealt with out of court by Police Youth Aid officers through Alternative Action Plans with the aim to keep young offenders out of court.

Young people will go through a Family Group Conference for more serious crimes or the Youth Court in the most serious instance.