Hamilton Peaches and Cream worker says shoplifter hit her with car

A Hamilton adult store worker badly injured after trying to thwart a shoplifter has shared how the incident unfolded, telling the Herald the thief rammed their car into her.

A Hamilton adult store worker badly injured after trying to thwart a shoplifter has shared how the incident unfolded, telling the Herald the thief rammed their car into her.

And the retail worker said theft has become more rampant in the six years she’s worked at the store.

Peaches and Cream employee Alicia Moke clarified an earlier eyewitness’ report she had jumped on to the bonnet of the alleged thief’s car.

“She just flat-foot accelerated into me from about two metres away, hit me on to the bonnet [and] slammed the brakes on. I flew off into the middle of the road,” Moke told the Herald.

The eyewitness said Moke fell off the car and hit her head. Moke was concussed and her face was still swollen a day later.

“It’s worse today now the adrenaline’s worn off. I have cuts and scrapes and a really sore shoulder,” Moke said.

“She purposely hit me with her car over $150 worth of lingerie,” Moke claimed.

The whole incident unfolded “really fast”, Moke said, and she had yet to properly process what happened.

Moke was taken to hospital after the incident but has since been discharged. She was taking Thursday off after speaking with her employer.

“I have concerns for my safety going to work every day,” she said, adding Wednesday’s incident was nothing new for retail workers.

“Uh... I work in retail in Hamilton,” she told the Herald. “I get threatened on an almost daily basis,” she claimed.

Moke’s employer had spoken with her following the incident, and was alarmed at the initial report she had jumped on to the bonnet.

“My boss called me while I was in hospital last night, just like, you know, ‘I saw on the media you jumped on the bonnet of the car. What the hell were you thinking? Please don’t do that, like, are you okay?’, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I swear I didn’t’.

“I explained what happened, but we couldn’t go into it because the police were waiting to speak to me. I haven’t heard back from her [my boss], but the police said they were gonna get in touch with them, so she’s probably sorting out CCTV and stuff from her end.”

Moke had a suspicion the shoplifter had targeted the shop before, as she recognised her as she walked in.

Moke approached the woman as “she was getting closer to the exit”, she said.

“As I was about to go try to get the items off her before she left the store, she made a run for it.”

Moke followed the shoplifter out of the business, trying to film her and capture her face and her car’s registration to give to police.

“When I started working there six years ago, the theft was nowhere near as rampant as it is now, and they [shoplifters] were a lot more sneaky about it.

“Now, they just walk in, grab stuff, and like, you know, I say, ‘Do you want to pay?’, and they say, ‘Do you want me to punch you in the face?’,” she said.

“[It’s] absolutely insane.”