PAC: Two teens appear in NZ court over ice cream hold-up
02 Mar 2009 8:07 PM
WELLINGTON, March 2 NZPA - Two teenagers are to appear in court over the armed robbery of an Auckland mixed business in which ice creams were taken at gunpoint, New Zealand police say.
Both teenagers, one aged 14, were arrested in the Auckland suburb of Henderson, and will appear in the Youth Court on Tuesday. Investigators are still looking for a third person.
Edendale Dairy in Sandringham Road was held up on Saturday morning by three males, two of them masked, who demanded cash and cigarettes.
One of the three waved a gun at shopkeeper Shazia Hussain, before they made off with $NZ400 ($A310) in cash and $NZ500 ($A390) worth of cigarettes, as well as chocolate bars and ice creams.
"Anyone who brandishes guns for criminal or nuisance purposes runs a serious risk of being confronted by armed police or members of the public who choose to arm themselves," said Detective Constable Barry McDowell of Avondale CIB, before the arrests.
"Ice creams and lollies are not worth the risk to their lives."
The couple who have operated the mixed business for three years, have two small children, including a two-month-old baby, who was asleep in a back room at the time of the robbery.
Security footage showed two youths, their faces uncovered, in the shop about half an hour earlier.
