Angeline Narayan, 38, was at her cash counter at Nayan’s Supermarket when a man robbed her cash till.

It was around 1 pm on Monday, March 20, when this happened at the supermarket in Pilling Road, Nasinu.

Ms Narayan said the man wore a red hat, had sunglasses and a face mask on and was armed with a chopper knife

The mother-of-four who had been employed with the supermarket for two weeks said  she faced a dangerous yet braving situation for the first time in her life.

“I was at the counter when the man entered the supermarket and I noticed him because of the way he was dressed, wearing a sunglass, mask, and hat, it was suspicious,” Ms Narayan said.

She claimed that when they asked the suspicious man to remove his mask, he did not.

She further claimed that when the robber entered the supermarket, the supermarket’s security officer who had just started work two days prior had disappeared.

She said the suspect gave her $2 to pay for the item, but his behaviour and the way he spoke was suspicious.

However, when the suspect grabbed the cash till, Ms Narayan reacted and quickly tried to push the till back into the register.

“By then, the man took out a chopper knife and was about to hit my hand with it. I removed my hand from the till, the man quickly grabbed the till, but it fell on the table and by then he grabbed about $200 cash.

“I quickly tried to grab the till when he tried to hit me with the chopper knife again on my shoulder and I quickly moved back. By then my manager yelled to let it go but I hit the till and it dropped,” Ms Narayan said.

Help

Ms Narayan said there were a lot of people in the supermarket. She had hoped someone would help her, but no one did.

She said she ran after the suspect and sought help from men standing outside but no one helped. Instead, one of the men asked her to hire a taxi and go after him.

She said at that time she did not think of anything else except that she was working for someone who helped her when she was looking for a job.

“But later I realised that I also have a family and children and what would have happened to them.

“When I asked for help from people, everyone stood around watching.”

Security officer

She claimed that the security officer was in the washroom, and he had said to the staff that he was locked in the washroom.

“Upon checking on the door, the staff found out that the washroom door was working fine,” Ms Narayan claimed

Supermarket operations manager Neetu Singh said the security officer was in Police custody and the man was yet to be identified.

“We are relieved that our staff was not injured during the incident.”

Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said a suspect was in Police custody and investigations continued.

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