By Josefine Ganko and Kayla Olaya
A hero bystander armed with a mop and a fluorescent yellow wet floor sign bravely attempted to fend off an alleged robber armed with a knife in a Surry Hills convenience store on Sunday evening.
The customer attempted to wave away the masked man inside the Aruma Grocer on Devonshire Street just after 8pm. The accused thief later died after jumping from a fifth-floor balcony when police attended his nearby unit block.
CCTV from inside the store shows the alleged robber wearing a bright red hoodie and carrying a cross-body bag, his face obscured by a purple balaclava.
In a minute-long exchange, the customer wearing a pink hoodie and grey sweatpants waves the mop’s head towards the bandit, who allegedly took the store’s cash register with less than $200 inside.
The alleged thief, who is aged in his 40s but yet to be formally identified, then left the store alongside a 21-year-old woman who was waiting outside. CCTV captures the pair fleeing to the Surry Hills Light Rail, where the man continues to wave the knife around.
A little over an hour later, about 9.10pm, police had tracked down the alleged robber at a unit block on nearby Belvoir Street.
Store CCTV captured the hero bystander armed confronting the alleged thief.
When the officers entered the hallway of the block, the man tried to escape, with the woman allegedly closing the unit door on police as they approached.
“The male ... has spotted police and then has ran out to the back of the unit and jumped off the balcony,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Scott Tanner said at a press conference on Monday.
The man fell five storeys to the ground below. After being treated by paramedics at the scene, he was transferred to St Vincent’s Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Tanner said the man was “very well known” to police.
Police arrested 21-year-old Tiahna Hatch, taking her to Surry Hills police station, where she was charged with robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon, destroying or damaging property less than $2000 and hindering a police officer in the execution of duty.
Hatch was granted conditional bail before a local court on Monday. The dangerous weapon charge was withdrawn and replaced with one count of robbery while armed with an offensive weapon.
Aruma Grocer’s owner Firas Alwaswah.Credit: Nine News
A critical incident has been declared, and an investigation is under way, as is routine for any death or serious injury involving NSW Police, and a report will be prepared for the coroner.
The store’s owner Firas Alwaswah said it wasn’t the first time he had been robbed.
“Stuff happens in my shop,” he said. “Robbers, they took money before – they steal stuff from the shop, but this is the first time they took the whole cash register away.”
Alwaswah said the worker was “shaken” and had taken the day off, and the store was closed while he secured a new register.
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