Security is not obvious at Michael Hill’s Sylvia Park Store – despite previous robberies

A 27 year old man had to have 36 stitches to his face after he was attacked by a hammer wielding thug at Sylvia Park Mall yesterday.

The victim, who works at a Vodafone shop in the mall, tried to stop a thief who’d just snatched $40,000 worth of jewellery from Michael Hill Jewelers. The robber smashed him in the face with the same hammer he’d just used to break the counter. It was the second time the jewellery shop had been robbed this month.

Sam Bhutani, a staff member from ‘rival’ jewellery store Walker and Hall…

said the hammer attack victim was “bleeding very bad”. It was the second time the store had been robbed this month. source

Sunglass Style Manager Karishma Govinda, saw the robbery and said the Mall management told her

“the alleged thief was later stopped by construction workers, who happened to be getting coffees from Starbucks at the time. Staff at the different stores didn’t usually talk to each other but the robbery had made them closer, she said…

Staff at Michael Hill Jeweller were under strict instructions from their head office to not comment to media. The company was expected to release a statement in the next 24 hours.

The alleged offender is scheduled to appear in the Auckland District Court on Wednesday, charged with aggravated wounding and shoplifting.

“It’s very unfortunate that the first man to assist the robbery victims was so severely injured,” Detective Sergeant Nick Poland said.” read more

Customers concerned about store security

Customers have taken to the Michael Hill Facebook page to voice their concerns about the store’s security…

The mall has also been the scene of a number of armed robberies of money security vans over the years, some of which are linked to below. These types of stories tend to get deleted from the on-line media, but may only be found by searching digital editions of NZ newspapers.

You may also like:

• Shotgun used in Armourgard robbery at ANZ Bank, Sylvia Park, could be connected to string of armed robberies (2010)
• Pistol used in Armourguard robbery at Sylvia Park (2013)
• Isolated and Lonely New Zealanders Fare Worst For Social Connectedness: Sovereign Wellbeing Index (2015)
• A year long study of armed robberies in NZ – showed there is nearly one attack every day (2010)
• All posts tagged NZ not as safe as you think