A Dandenong milk-bar owner has bravely fought and scared off two robbers who appeared to be armed with guns.
“I had no time to think,” owner Jimmy Huang said of his decisive actions.
But when the hooded, masked intruders manhandled his wife Lucy, he said “I had no choice.”
The robbers entered the Heatherton Road shop just before closing time about 9.30pm on Friday 20 July.
One of them leapt on the front counter, another went around the side, Mr Huang said.
They surrounded Lucy, pointing what appeared to be hand pistols.
“I was inside watching TV and I just heard a shout,” Mr Huang said.
When he emerged, one of the robbers bashed him over the head with the butt of a pistol.
“He just hit me without warning.
“Then they asked my wife where’s the money?”
The robbers stole $200, cigarettes and a mobile phone, then demanded more money.
Mr Huang re-entered the fray. He wielded a plastic milk crate and beat one of the intruders with a wooden axe-handle.
The intruders fled from the shop, running across an oval near Dandenong Oasis.
Mr Huang, who sports a black eye and several cuts to his face, was treated at Dandenong Hospital for a cut to his head.
It was the first time that the milk bar had been held-up since the couple bought the business 11 years ago.
Now Mr Huang is considering extra security measures, such as a screen on the counter.
The offenders were described as being aged in their teens to early 20s. One was described as African, the other Caucasian.
Greater Dandenong CIU police are investigating the incident.
Any information to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or crimestoppersvic.com.au, or Greater Dandenong CIU on 9767 7487.
