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A girl of 14 has been charged with holding up a bank in Taranaki - wearing an All Blacks supporters' mask and waving an imitation pistol at a terrified teller.
Detectives are still hunting for $12,000 of the cash stolen from the ASB at Hawera even though three people have now been charged over the bold midday bank raid.
The 14-year-old girl appeared in court yesterday morning and was freed on bail. She cannot be named because of her age - but was charged with aggravated robbery with an offensive weapon.
The weapon in the charge sheet is the imitation pistol she is accused of pointing at a teller. The accused robber can be clearly seen in bank security footage holding the imitation pistol covered by a sheet of fabric. Also in the footage, she is wearing distinctive 1970s clothing and the black mask.
Two other men were yesterday charged in connection with the robbery - Matene Wilson-Tipa, 18, and Conrad Dawson, 26. Both men appeared in the New Plymouth District Court charged with being party to being armed with an offensive weapon, and were remanded in custody.
Senior Sergeant Mike Hannah said Wilson-Tipa was accused of planning the daylight robbery while Dawson is alleged to have acted as the getaway driver. A second youth, a 16-year-old boy, was also charged for committing an aggravated robbery of a dairy 10 days ago.
Hannah said police had recovered two large bags of coins but most of the money, nearly $12,000 in notes, was still missing.
"The poor old teller was a gibbering mess at the end of it. She really thought she was looking down the end of a gun." Although the teller wasn't physically harmed, Hannah said the ordeal was hard to deal with.
He said security camera footage showed the robber entering the empty bank through the front door shortly after 12.30pm on Thursday.
The robber, stylishly dressed in 1970s clothing, had her face covered with an All Black supporters mask - initially incorrectly described as a "Catwoman" mask.
She then demanded the tellers give her money, which was handed over by a terrified teller. Hiding a fake pistol under a piece of cloth, the robber allegedly shut the front door behind her, grabbed the money in large bags, then walked to a waiting car around the corner.
"At 14, it's pretty rare for anyone to be charged," said Hannah.
Police made the arrests on Friday. Wilson-Tipa and Dawson will appear in Hawera District Court on Tuesday, while the 14 and 16-year-old will appear in the New Plymouth Youth Court on Wednesday.
Robert Slatherley, owner of the Commercial Tavern in Hawera, said the robbery was the talk of the town and most of his patrons were "utterly disgusted" at the age of the accused.
"I think it's totally shocking. It's been 22 years since the last robbery in Hawera. It's a shocker."
