Shop owner pelts thief with stock

Grange Road convenience store owner Lam Nguyen who acted on instinct when a young offender threatened his wife with a knife.

Sarah Harvey

Poll

Should shop owners take the law into their own hands?

This poll ended on 19 March 2011.

Yes

90%

No

9%

This is not a scientific poll. The results reflect only the opinions of those who chose to participate.

A KNIFE-WIELDING robber got more than he bargained for when he tried to hold-up an Ipswich convenience store owned by pint-sized Lam Nguyen.

The 52-year-old shopkeeper swung into action when the hooded raider held a knife to his wife and business partner, Sue.

Running from the back of his store in Grange Road, Eastern Heights, he hurled a barrage of ladies’ roll-on deodorants, various bottles and tins at a clearly startled crook.

CCTV captured the unfolding drama, which began when the offender entered the premises just after 5pm on Wednesday.

Defying the missiles at first, the robber continued to wave the knife in the face of 42-year-old Mrs Nguyen, who stood terrified behind the cash register.

He eventually fled after failing to open the cash register with his knife amid a relentless pelting of glass jars and hard plastic containers.

Two passers-by then chased down a suspect and returned him to the shop. Police later charged a 16-year-old with armed robbery and entering premises with intent.

Mr Nguyen’s fightback came as Queensland Times readers backed Mayor Paul Pisasale over comments he made to an open forum on crime.

Mayor Pisasale said he sometimes wished police could take care of offenders with a “number nine boot” – a view endorsed by 91 per cent of those who voted in a www.qt.com.au poll on Thursday.

Mr Nguyen said he reacted instinctively.

“I just grabbed anything I could to throw at him,” he said.

“I was just trying to protect my wife. I didn’t want to hurt him; I just wanted him to go away.”

Last November, two knife-wielding men stormed into the same convenience store and demanded cash.

As reported in The Queensland Times, the offenders walked off empty-handed after Mr Nguyen persuaded them that the shop didn’t make much money and wasn’t even worth robbing.

Mr Nguyen said he and his wife were scared for their well-being and wanted better security near the shop.

“We want a surveillance camera out the front and some better lighting out the back and on the street,” Mr Nguyen said.

The managers of a chicken shop further down the road said they had also approached Ipswich City Council, asking for better street lighting after an attempted break-in last year.

Mayor Paul Pisasale yesterday promised to take a closer look at the issues affecting business owners in the area, but said he wanted to address the root of the problem.

“People who do these things do not understand the consequences of their actions – they have no fear of the law,” Cr Pisasale said.

“They know they can get away with a slap on the wrist, and if they are lucky, a bag of money too.

“Imagine the fear he has brought to these shop owners – every customer that comes in will make them feel nervous.

“Nobody in our city should go through that.”

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