Thief strikes Gordonton dairy

Jaisen Sarin after the theft — “If he had come to me and said he was hungry, he needed food, I would have given him something.” Jaison Serin.

Thieves struck the Gordonton superette this afternoon. Manager Jaison Serin said a customer came in at about three o’clock, wanting cigarettes, cigarette paper, filters, Coke Cola, bread and pies.

“He tried four times to using his card, then went outside to a car waiting with a driver. Ten minutes he was back, saying he now had the correct pin number and wanted to try again.”

Jaison said as soon as he saw how the man was using the cashflow machine he realised there might be trouble.

“He wasn’t using it properly and I realised he had bad intentions. Finally he grabbed a pack of cigarettes and the bread and ran off.

“This time the car was parked up by the vet, and I chased after him but they drove off towards Hamilton.”

Claudia Aalderink, from The Mandarin Tree, took down the registration number of the red Toyota and a woman took a photograph of it – all of which has been reported to Hamilton Police.

“I rang them immediately, and they’ll be tracking the car. I expect to hear from them soon,” said Jaison.

The man was Maori, in his late 30s – early 40s and bald. He was wearing a black cap, black jacket and black jeans.

“If he had come to me and said he was hungry, he needed food, I would have given him something,” said Jasion. “But you don’t do this kind of thing. People don’t realise how hard we work, and how much stress this causes. This is not the first time either, the first was just horrible.”

Jaison arrived from India in 2013 as a student, and was made manager of the Gordonton shop last August. “All of my customers are really nice, and good. They know me, are very friendly. This man wasn’t local.”

Claudia says the shop owners look after one another. “It’s not good when this type of thing happens. It’s very disappointing. But we keep an eye on what’s going on. If I’m on my own, and see something suspicious, I’ll contact the girls next door, or the dairy. We look after each other.”