Girl, 10, held at gunpoint

File photo / APN

Police are hunting a man who held a 10-year-old girl at gunpoint during a New Plymouth dairy robbery at the weekend.

The man robbed the Belt Road Dairy, on the corner of Devon Street West and Belt Road, about 7.50pm on Saturday, Detective Paul Barron said.

He used a hand gun and pointed it at the shop owner's 10-year-old daughter before walking away with over 100 packets of tobacco, which included Port Royal, Park Drive and Holiday brands.

It was the second time in six months the girl was the victim of an armed robbery.

In May, five teenagers, two aged 17 and three aged 14, held up the dairy with a replica pistol.

The young girl and her eight-year-old brother watched as the robbers pointed the gun to their father's head and demanded money.

The girl's mother, who would not be named, told the Taranaki Daily News Saturday's robbery brought back the ordeal of the first robbery.

Her daughter wouldn't go to school for a week after the last robbery, she said.

"She didn't want to go outside; she didn't want to go anywhere."

The latest robbery was caught on a camera inside the store, police said.

They described the offender as male, with pale to light brown skin colour, late teens to mid-twenties, about 180cm tall, wearing dark coloured trousers and a dress shirt.

Anyone with information about the robbery are urged to contact police.

- NZPA