A 14-year-old Toti girl is counting her blessings after she walked in seconds after an armed robbery took place at an Athlone Park garage on Monday night, 21 March.
Seiane du Plessis said she and her father had stopped at Grant’s garage at about 8pm to buy cooldrink. “My dad saw four men standing at the gate and thought he should wait for them to leave before letting me go in,” said Seiane. “When I walked in, two other men walked out. I walked to the fridge and saw a man crouched over his daughter. I thought maybe she was throwing a tantrum and he was calming her.”
When Seiane saw another man crouched over in the aisle who motioned her to get down, she realised something was amiss.
I could see from his eyes there was something wrong
“When I got to the till, the man at the counter stood up and I could see from his eyes there was something wrong. He told me they had just been robbed at gunpoint.”
When Seiane’s father came into the shop, it was confirmed the robbers were the four who had waited outside and the two who passed Seiane.
“It was really scary when I realised what had happened and that it happened so fast and right under our noses,” she said. “Luckily my father and I spoke for a while before I came into the shop.
I was really scared afterwards when I thought how close I came and how it could have ended. I’m just glad no-one was hurt.”
Grant’s garage and Shell declined to comment about the incident.
