Staff fend off sword-wielding robber
Updated on 01 October 2008
Shop staff who beat a Samurai sword-wielding robber into submission were acting "entirely reasonably", a judge has ruled.
Drug addict Andrew Speed, 18, who was jailed for three-and-a-half years, had not expected such spirited resistance at the Londis store in Southmead, Bristol.
Hearing Speed was kept in the room until police arrived. Bristol Crown Court Judge David Ticehurst said the self-defence was reasonable given the terrifying circumstances.
Whimpering Speed even begged officers to arrest him quickly to spare him from the family's retaliation, the court heard.
He was caught on the shop's CCTV leaping on to the counter before lunging at shop assistant Rameshkumar Rasiah, 31, with the nine-inch sword.
Speed warned: "I'm going to stab you, I'm going to kill you!"
But Mr Rasiah bravely grabbed the blade from him, cutting his left hand and elbow in the process.
He recognised Speed as a regular customer having pulled off a scarf wrapped around his face, said prosecutor Kenneth Bell.
Mr Rasiah's sister Suragini Jeyanthan, 28, rushed to his aid, hitting the raider in the back with an aluminium pipe, while he clubbed him with a broomstick.
Speed, who had been throwing jam jars in desperation, was finally bundled into the store room to await the authorities by Mrs Jeyanthan and her husband Nagaratnam, 29.
When police arrived, Speed, who had curled up in a ball, pleaded with them: "Keep him away from me. I won't play up, just get me out of here!"
Speed, of Southmead, was sentenced to youth detention after admitting assault with intent to rob and possession of an offensive weapon.
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