An Upper Hutt dairy owner says she was left "stunned" after three men armed with an axe and a hammer stormed her shop, with one leaping onto the counter before the group tore out the till.
The robbery happened on Ararino St, in the suburb of Trentham, about 5.30pm on Tuesday. Police later arrested one person after a stolen car crashed on State Highway 1 north of Wellington.
The owner, who asked not to be named, had been serving a customer when the men came in behind him.
"I could see one had an axe, one definitely had a hammer," she told 1News.
"I thought they had come for my customer at first, but then I realised, no, they are here for us."
The men were yelling, but she said she could not make out any of it. "It was just noise."
Her business partner had stepped out the back to take rubbish out after dinner when he heard a thud, the sound of one of the men landing on the counter. He ran back in, pulled the business partner behind him by the collar and stood between her and the intruder.
She said all three men kept their weapons raised the whole time.
"His arm was always up with the axe, ready to do whatever."
It took the group three attempts to wrench the till free because it was connected to cables. Once they fled, she ran outside to get the car's registration.
"I ran back saying to myself, 'the number plate, the number plate', so I wouldn't forget it."
The shop's dog was lying on its bed behind the counter throughout the robbery.
"Not a sound out of him, not a peep," she said.
However, they grabbed the dog after the offender jumped onto the counter. "We thought, 'he's got an axe, he might try and hurt him', so we held him."
She said she felt relaxed at first, but the emotion had started to catch up with her as regulars came in to check on them.
"As people have come in and said things, I'll start crying. I don't want to get too anxious, that I'll be too scared to serve someone and too scared to go outside."
A police spokesperson said four people fled the scene in a stolen vehicle, later abandoned it, and stole another car.
Officers spotted the second car on Moonshine Rd, which linked Upper Hutt with Porirua, and tried to stop it. The driver lost control and crashed while heading south on State Highway 1 between Porirua and Tawa. No other vehicles were involved and no one was seriously injured.
The driver was taken into custody, and police were still looking for the other three.
"We would like to speak to anyone that was on Ararino Street or around the Trentham railway station around 5.30pm," the spokesperson said.
"We're particularly interested if you saw a silver Mazda station wagon, or any of the occupants."
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