Brave six-year-old girl tries to stop axe-wielding robber in shop raid

Dramatic CCTV footage has captured the moment a six-year-old girl stood up to an axe-wielding robber when a gang raided her family’s shop. The clip shows Sarah Patel and her father running from the assailants, before shopworker Jordan Byrt is pinned in the corner of a room by one of the gang. After falling over as she runs, Sarah spots Mr Byrt in danger and she can then be seen running towards the masked raider and grabbing his leg in a bid to halt the attack. She was pushed away before being led to safety by her grandfather.

She said ‘hitting is a bad thing and I wanted to stop it, but when I saw the axe I turned around and ran’.

Sarah’s mother, Nashrin

Sarah was in her parents’ shop in Glenfield, a suburb of Auckland’s North Shore in New Zealand, when it was raided by the masked gang who smashed cabinets and stole thousands of pounds worth of electronics. Afterwards, she said she “wasn’t scared” of tackling the assailant who she thought was attacking her father, Suhail. Mr Patel said his daughter was “always trying to help people” and he was not surprised she sprung into action. I’m proud of her, definitely,“ he added. Police have arrested five 16-year-old boys, who appeared in court on Tuesday charged with aggravated robbery, injuring with intent and breaching bail. They are continuing to search for a sixth suspect.

I turned around and I saw the boss’s young daughter here and I just tried to get them out as soon as I can, just trying to be a distraction.

Jordan Byrt

six-year-old robbery