It’s not what you expect at 6.30pm as you go about your grocery-shopping business in a supermarket on Sydney’s prestigious lower north shore – to see a machete-wielding woman demand money from the cashier.
Last night a woman allegedly threatened Woolworths staff and demanded the tills be opened.
A shopper media has referred to as “Nick”, who had apparently gone to Woollies to buy a sweet potato, saw “all hell breaking loose” and started filming. Later he was one of the people who brought her down outside the supermarket in a citizen’s arrest.
Here is some of the footage shot of the woman, who was wearing black with the lower half of her face covered, with the machete. It was screened on Channel Nine.
The Sydney Morning Herald spoke with Nick who described how he and another man, called Victor, restrained the woman as she headed down Rangers Road to Military Road.
“I grabbed her from behind in a big bear hug and kind of lifted her off the ground as much as I could,” Nick said.
“He [Victor] ran in from the right-hand side, grabbed both of her hands. He must have put pressure on her wrist or something like that, got the machete off her and threw it away.
“Then I’ve literally lifted her off the ground and placed her on the ground gently – not really. And then we just kind of held her until the cops came. By that time, we could already hear sirens.”
A woman, 31, has been charged with larceny, being armed with intent to rob using an offensive weapon, wielding a knife in a public place, common assault, and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.
She was refused police bail and is due to appear in Sydney’s Central Local Court today (Wednesday).
