26 Mar 2009

Liquor store owner wants apology from police

9:33 am on 26 March 2009

A liquor store owner wants an apology from the police after a court threw out charges laid against him after he took action against an attempted robbery.

A preliminary hearing was held this week at Manukau District Court for Virender Singh, 40, on two charges of injury with intent to injure.

The charges were laid after a violent brawl took place outside his shop in Otara in September last year. Four people were hospitalised.

Mr Singh says he used a hockey stick only to defend himself and those around him during the incident.

He now wants an apology from the police. He says he was not only a robbery victim but a victim of a police prosecution which should not have gone ahead.

The decision has delighted some small retailers in South Auckland.

An Otara dairy owner, Hemant Kumar, was robbed earlier this month of milk, nappies and a packet of biscuits.

He says Mr Singh should never have been charged because sometimes store owners do not have enough time to wait for the police and need to protect themselves.

But, the chief executive of the Retailers' Association, John Albertson, says he would be worried if retailers carried weapons, because it could make any violence against them worse.

He says preventative measures like clear windows and good lighting are a better solution.

Menawhile, a defence lawyer says the police were right to bring the charges.

The New Zealand Law Society Criminal Law Committee convenor Jonathan Krebs says the decision is not a precedent and the Justices of the Peace were not condoning the violence.

The two presiding Justices of the Peace said on Wednesday that, due to contradictory statements from witnesses, there was not enough evidence to prove the case against Mr Singh.

There was no prima facie case to answer because of conflicts in evidence presented by the Crown and cross-examined by Mr Singh's lawyer, Greg King.

Mr King told the hearing that it could not be shown that his client injured either of the complainants, and he has always denied doing so.

Mr King said a group hatched a plan to rob Mr Singh's store and told the court the complainants do not say that Mr Singh struck them.

The Crown argued Mr Singh acted in retribution and force and self-defence must be reasonable.

But Mr King says there was no clearer case of self-defence. He said Mr Singh was stabbed during the attack in front of his young daughter and wife, his nephew suffered a cut to his hand, and a neighbouring store owner was hit in the face with a piece of wood.

Mr Singh said he still does not know why he was charged, but is delighted with the decision and it has restored his faith in the justice system.