Fed up with the spate of youth crime, shopkeepers are taking matters into their own hands and defending their stores from troublesome thieves.
A Rotorua shop assistant equipped with a hockey stick has fought back against a group of youth offenders threatening to steal an expensive haul of loot.
During a quiet Sunday evening at Kawaha Point Dairy and Liquor Centre in Rotorua, a shop assistant was minding his own business when a group of young offenders rushed into the shop and started robbing the place.
CCTV footage provided to AM, shows four thieves entering the store, with one appearing to push the shop assistant while the rest grab boxes of alcohol.
The shop attendant then fights back, grabbing a hockey stick and swinging it in the air towards the offenders who huddle back in the corner of the shop.
He then chases the thieves out of the store, however, one offender rushes toward him and grabs the hockey stick off him before exiting the store.
In a final act of courage, the shop assistant throws a bottle of alcohol at the fleeing thieves who dropped the boxes of alcohol.
While the robbery was unsuccessful, the shop assistant was left with a huge mess and many items destroyed.
According to the NZ Herald, a regular customer who saw the scuffle yanked the keys out of the offenders' getaway car and grabbed one of the offenders, holding him securely until the police arrived.
A worker from the dairy next door also came to help.
A police spokesperson told Newshub they were notified of the robbery shortly after 7pm on Sunday.
Police said one offender was stopped by a member of the public and subsequently arrested.
The offender is due to appear in Rotorua Youth Court on 8 August in relation to assault with intent to rob and unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle.
The investigation is still ongoing.
It comes as businesses raise concerns about the spate of violent robberies and ram raids, with Dairy and Business Association chair Sunny Kaushal calling on the Government to declare a crime crisis.
Kaushal also wants the families of young offenders involved in ram-raids to be investigated by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).
"As you know, we are in a crime emergency and it's right now, It's right here," he told Newshub Late last month.
"So it's quite a serious situation. The dairy owners are on the front line and being the most affected businesses by this senseless crime."
