An Auckland dairy owner says he’s had to install a metal cage around his shop counter so he and his wife are able to feel safe at work.
Salisbury Superette owner Hitesh Patel said they decided to install the cage after a dairy worker was killed in Sandringham last month.
Janak Patel, no relation, was fatally injured during an alleged robbery at the Rose Cottage Superette.
Police said he was stabbed several times 100m from the store after he confronted the thief.
The newly married 34-year-old managed to make it back to the dairy, where emergency services were called, but he died from his injuries.
Patel told the Herald he and his wife had also heard stories of dairy attacks in their area, so they decided to contact a manufacturer to create the cage.
“Before we started making the cage me and my wife would work together so we can save ourselves if something happens. At least one person can run and call someone.
“We were scared.”
Now they’ve put the cage in place he said they are now able to work alone again and they feel safe at their Birkdale store.
While they have not been targeted in a “real robbery”, he said people had stolen from their store in the past.
“We feel sad to have made it, financially, and for our regular customers who feel bad as well. But what can we do to make ourselves safe?
“This is in New Zealand, safest country before, and in past two-three months, worst.”
Also this month, a Hamilton dairy worker had two fingers chopped off with a machete during a violent robbery at the Irvine St Dairy in the morning of December 17.
The dairy’s owner, Puneet Singh, told RNZ it could have been much worse.
“He was begging to them ‘don’t kill me, don’t kill me’. He was saying that again and again, and he was saying the robbers were trying to kill him.
“The robber targeted my worker’s head. He just brought his hand in between and that caused the cut to his fingers.”
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