A robbery was foiled in Cape Town after the owner of a diamond retailer overpowered an armed man.
|||Cape Town - A robbery was foiled in the CBD on Monday when the owner of a diamond retailer overpowered an armed man.
Daniel Geddes, 22, an assistant at Piero Verde Diamond Wholesaler on Greenmarket Square, told the Cape Argus how his boss wrestled the assailant to the ground as he (Geddes) went for the robber’s gun. The gun turned out to be an air-pump pellet pistol.
“I worked as a paramedic before, so I know the feeling of acting on instinct and just putting everything else out of your mind. It was spontaneous, I jumped on him without really thinking,” Geddes said on Tuesday morning.
Police confirmed that a 25-year-old suspect had been arrested.
Nothing was stolen from the shop and the man was due to appear in Cape Town Magistrate’s Court once he had been charged, said police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk.
Geddes said a man had walked into the shop on Monday afternoon and handed him a note.
“The note read that this was a robbery and that he would shoot me if I didn’t co-operate. Next, he directed me up the stairs at the back of the shop.”
They went to an office at the top of the stairs, where owner Peter von Palace was speaking to two clients. The robber asked the clients to hand over their wallets and valuables and asked Von Palace to open a safe where diamonds are kept.
It was then that Von Palace pounced on the suspect and the two of them went “head first” down the stairs, Geddes said. With the help of one of the clients, the suspect was subdued.
A security guard was alerted, and the suspect was handcuffed. Police arrived a short while later.
“We have to add our congratulations to the police. They were quick in their response and very professional,” Geddes said.
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus