An alleged robber armed with concrete and a 15cm hunting knife is being hunted by police, accused of stealing money from a Rockhampton service station.
Police allege a robber entered the Metro Petrol Station, Kent Street on October 18 about 10.30pm then took out a knife and confronted a male employee, demanding money.
Rockhampton Criminal Investigation Branch Officer in Charge Detective Senior Sergeant Kevin Mawdsley said the alleged robber used what appeared to be a “broken off piece of concrete” and a 15cm hunting knife to threaten the employee.
“Fortunately the employee complied with the demands and handed over a quantity of cash to the suspect person who fled down Kent St,” he said.
The service station worker was not injured.
Detective Senior Sergeant Mawdsley said the knife used in the alleged robbery had been recovered close to the petrol station where the incident was reported to have occurred and retrieved by a member of the public.
He said police have not seen an armed robbery of a business in Rockhampton “for quite some time”.
“People who commit these acts of crime, they’re obviously desperate for money… the money that they’ve obtained from this is not a huge amount,” Detective Senior Sergeant Mawdsley said.
“We want public assistance so we can bring this person into our custody to prevent further offences from happening.
“These types of offences are fairly brazen and if apprehended there’s a lengthy period of imprisonment,” he said.
“My message to business owners would be… if you find yourself in a situation like this, do what this victim did on this occasion, which is comply with the demands, and then call 000 at the first opportunity,” he said.
Police have revealed that the alleged offender is thought to be approximately 163-165cm tall.
They have shared CCTV of the alleged robber with what appears to be a slab of concrete in a bid for more information about the incident.
Police are urging anyone with relevant vision to come forward as they continue their investigations.
Extracted in full from: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/rockhampton/police-courts/police-release-cctv-as-manhunt-launched-for-alleged-servo-armed-robber/news-story/0eee69cb4cb06ad14165ebf4fcf1b56e
