Cape Town - A helpful thief decided to serve the customers who walked into the Goodwood shop he was busy robbing.
And his “kind act” was captured clearly on the shop’s three hidden security cameras.
On Monday just after 4pm, a Somali shopkeeper in Voortrekker Road was held up by three armed men, and while two were beating up the business owner, the other served customers, selling them cigarettes and handing them change from the till.
Video footage shows the man first emptying the till into a plastic sack and then when people walk up to the counter to buy cigarettes, he casually helps them.
The Select Super Shop is just 100m from the Goodwood Police Station on the corner of Weiner Street and Voortrekker Road, but that didn’t stop the three gunmen.
Shop owner Fahan Abdi Osuble, 32, was beaten up in the walk-in fridge in the back.
He said: “They spoke Xhosa, I understood a little, they were asking me for my money, but I never keep a lot of cash on the premises. We have been here only four months. They moered (hit) me hard because they only got R5 000 in cash and R1 000 worth of cigarettes.”
Osuble said the robbers walked into the store, pointed the gun in his face and asked him to step out behind the tiny front counter.
He co-operated and was told to lie down on the floor for him to be searched. He was then dragged to the back of the store and beaten.
Osuble said while he was being pistol-whipped, one of the robbers served his customers with a smile, but later the others threatened and harassed customers and he feared he'd be shot.
He said: “Cops came nearly 30 minutes later and they (robbers) were gone in their silver VW Polo. The registration numbers were fake, the police said.”
Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut confirmed the robbery and said: “The case is still under investigation and no one has been arrested as yet.”
Osuble added: “I now have a panic button and the police on speed dial. This was the first and last time anyone robs my shop.”
Daily Voice