Waves knife at the robber too, which scares him off.
Karamjit Sangha had never encountered a robber till a drug user stormed into her this past May wielding a seven-inch gun and demanding money. But, the 49-year-old brave Punjabi-origin woman kept calm and threatened him away by waving another knife at him.
Sangha, who runs a News and Booze store in Beverley Road, Hull, in the UK, was taking her tea when the robber, Stuart Gleeson, entered the store and demanded money, showing a seven-inch knife at her. Instead of handing over the money, Sangha told him he would have to wait till she finishes the tea.
When Gleeson asked her to put the tea down and hand over the money, she picked up a craft knife she was using to open the papers and waved it at him. It was enough to scare the robber and he ran away.
“I was just sitting there having my cup of tea when he came in holding this seven-inch kitchen knife. He told me to give him all the money, but I was relaxed. I told him I was having a cup of tea,” Sangha was quoted as saying by Hull Daily Mail.
“He demanded I put it down and give him the money. I said ‘OK’ and picked up the craft knife and waved it at him. I wouldn’t have hurt him, but it was enough to scare him. He started shaking and then he ran off,” she added.
CCTV cameras placed inside the store captured the robbery attempt and Gleeson was arrested later on. After prosecution, he was sentenced to four and a half-year jail term for attempted robbery and possession of a knife, and six months jail term for possessing counterfeit currency by Hull Crown court last Friday.
“There was no long-term harm caused and the incident was short-lived. But there was a degree of planning with this attempted robbery. You waited for several minutes until the coast was clear. The shop worker must have been extremely frightened when you waved the knife at her,” Judge Mark Bury said.