Upper Hutt dairy owner shares footage of ‘horrific’ attempted robbery

Jagwinder’s wife Manmeet spoke to Herald this afternoon

“He came back to scare my husband and my husband couldn’t understand why this happened. Then the guy tried to jump over the counter, so my husband stepped back and tried to find something to save himself,” she said.

“He grabbed a small stick and ran after him, but the boy left the scene.”

Manmeet said she usually opened the shop on Sundays and often had her daughter with her.

Only Jagwinder was in the shop today.

This is the second attempt to rob the store. The first incident occurred in 2023.

“It was very, very scary for me because I usually open on a Sunday … it could have been me and my daughter,” she said.

“My husband called me and I just went over and said, ‘We need to call the police, we can’t take this lightly.’

“I called 911 and then about 15 minutes later the police came and took the (security) footage.”

Manmeet and Jagwinder posted the video on Facebook. They were hoping someone in the community would recognize the alleged criminal, who first came with his face exposed and was clearly caught on camera.

Manmeet said the man was driving the stolen car.

She asked those who recognized the man to contact the police as soon as possible.

“This is the only source of income for us, our only livelihood .. we work 13 hours a day to earn,” she said.

She called people who targeted dairies and small businesses “scoundrels.”

“They may come from a bad background, or they have a sad family history, or they had a traumatic childhood. It’s all secondary… they’re robbing us and that’s not okay.

“It’s really terrible.”

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