By Casey Neill
Milk bar family’s hopes destroyed after raid…
A four-year-old girl is scared to go outside and “always crying” following an armed robbery at her family’s Dandenong North milk bar.
She was asleep with her mum Yee when the raiders struck the Dunearn Road store about 7.30am on Sunday 25 September.
“My husband was in the kitchen,” she said.
“I heard a loud voice. I thought maybe someone was beating my husband.
“I woke up and found my glasses. I ran outside with no shoes.
“I saw my husband was safe.”
He’d retreated into the home attached to the milk bar and locked the door.
He held it shut as two men armed with long kitchen knives tried to reach the terrified family.
“They almost broke the door,” Yee said.
“The noise was very loud.
“At that time I called the police. My husband turned on the alarm.
“They were very quick to take all they wanted and go.
“They took money and cigarettes.”
CCTV footage shows them jumping the counter to grab the items.
Yee said her husband had put change in the cash box and stocked the cigarette stand just moments earlier.
“My husband went back inside to enjoy the breakfast. Then the thieves came,” she said.
“Maybe they know how we run the business.”
The family is now living in fear.
“I’m very worried, very afraid,” she said.
“Sometimes my husband is not here.
“We come here, we just wanted the little one to have a very beautiful life.”
Her daughter cries when she hears loud voices and doesn’t want to go outside.
“She’s crying, always crying,” she said.
“I went to the kindergarten to pick up here, she is crying and the face is red.
“In my heart, I don’t want to stay here.
“I don’t think I’ll feel safe again.”
The Chinese-born couple took on the business 10 months ago and installed a high-tech CCTV system.
“They don’t care,” Yee said.
“In their eyes the camera is nothing.”
About 10 minutes earlier, thieves matching the same description struck a milk bar in Coolavin Road, Noble Park.
The owner was putting out a sandwich board when he noticed two men running toward the store’s front door, locked the door and remained outside.
They fled after they failed to open the door.
“The police came here and said a lot of milk bars, the robbers go inside,” Yee said.
“We just want a safe life.
“We work very hard.”
