Chemist gives robber a taste of his own medicine

Ian Edwards

As Rotorua pharmacist Ian Edward wrestled one of two armed intruders to the ground he thought of defending his store and staff.

"It was totally instinctive, I thought they are not coming into my place to do this to me. I'm not going to have any person intimidate me."

Mr Edward's brave stance paid off, but only after a struggle.

The 55-year-old was bending down to lock the front doors around 5.30pm on Tuesday when the two men approached his store, Pharmacy 44.

"I looked up from closing the bottom lock and [about 10cm] away from me were two men in balaclava'd faces, one with a gun and one with a knife."

Without hesitating Mr Edward lunged at the man closest to him - the one with the air pistol.

After struggling on the road Mr Edward gained control.

"I got on top of him and I kept laying on top of him with his head on the tarseal with all my body forced on him until the police arrived about five minutes later."

But the other masked man took advantage of the situation and slipped inside where 25-year-old pharmacist Steven Chen was working.

"The other guy was swearing and cursing and carrying on. He took the knife to Steven's throat and demanded methadone."

Mr Chen handed the man three bottles of the drug, which is prescribed for recovering heroin addicts.

"At that point he cut Steven on the arm and demanded Rivotril [an antidepressant type drug]. Steven gave him something else much less harmful."

When the man saw his mate being held down by Mr Edward he tried to blend in with the crowd, calling out and asking what had happened.

"I just called out, 'That's the other guy, grab him'."

The police arrested the man on the ground and found the other a short time later.

The pair were customers who had been coming to the store for several years.

Inspector Bruce Horne said Mr Edward's actions were "pretty gutsy" but police did not encourage people to tackle intruders.

"These kinds of people are violent and unpredictable and who knows what can happen."

Mr Edward said he had often thought about what he would do if attacked and his actions played out much as he expected.

"I did what I believed in but I wouldn't want other people to think it was necessarily a smart idea."

* Two men in their 40s appeared in the Rotorua District Court yesterday charged with aggravated robbery.