A dairy owner in Christchurch used a meat cleaver to confront three knife-wielding teenagers, with CCTV capturing the frightening confrontation.
Two young men and a young woman entered the dairy in Sydenham yesterday at just after 2pm, Stuff reported.
Footage shows the dairy owner, who wanted to remain unnamed, approaching one of the young men armed with cleaver as the teen is stooped by the counter.
The owner is then pushed into the backroom by a second teen with a knife as the trio of teenagers begin taking cash from the register and also cigarettes.
The man can be seen calling police at that point before the teens scarper with what the owner says was around $100 in cash and cigarettes.
The owner told Stuff that he believes the trio, all thought to be aged between 15 and 17, allegedly stole cash from his wife at the store less than fortnight ago.
"After it happened to the wife I thought there's no way they're going to do it to me. I'm going to go on the offensive and defend what I've got," the man said.
"I work 100 hours a week for about $2 an hour, and for some little a------ to come in and take that..."
The owner felt the increase in cigarette prices had made crime worse.
"A lot of people just can't afford them (cigarettes) now, and they're resorting to this," he said.
He had kept the meat cleaver close for 13 years as protection and he wouldn’t be afraid to use it, as he had in the past.
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