Baker hides from supermarket thieves

The thieves drove through a front awning and checkout area. Photo / Christine Cornege.

A baker at a Hamilton supermarket hid behind a wall after thieves drove their car through the front of the store and stole a few boxes of beer.

The five people in the Nissan Maxima, which reversed into the inner-city supermarket early this morning were arrested after stealing the beer and leaving evidence at the scene which led police straight to them.

Senior Sergeant Kevin Anderson of Hamilton police said a baker working in the store called them to the Countdown supermarket on Liverpool St shortly before 4am.

The driver is alleged to have reversed the car through a front awning smashing into a checkout counter causing several thousands of dollars of damage.

As some cleared the debris from around the car, others ran to a nearby display grabbing boxes of beer as a baker hid from the group.

Countdown Liverpool St store manager Gary Whiteman said the baker, who was working alone in the supermarket at the time of the ram-raid, had been offered counselling but had instead chosen to get back to her baking.

"She was a bit shaken up this morning, she was watching it all happen from behind a wall," he said.

"Fortunately, they never even knew she was there so from that point of view she was quite lucky."

Mr Whiteman said CCTV footage showed the group were in and out of the building in less than a couple of minutes.

Builders were this morning working around bemused shoppers replacing the two broken electronic sliding doors.

"From our point of view there has been a bit of damage but we are lucky that no staff have been injured and from all accounts the people concerned have been apprehended," said Mr Whiteman.

Mr Anderson said the group left evidence at the scene which led police to a house in the Hamilton suburb of Melville.

Police arrested two men and two women aged between 17 to 20 - along with a 16-year-old male.

One of the group was found hiding in a wardrobe.

"We're currently reviewing CCTV footage to determine if any more people were involved and officers will be carrying out searches of other properties this morning," Mr Anderson said.