The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE proprietor of a Shannon Chinese restaurant has described how she saw off an armed robber who paid an unwelcome visit.
Cindy Lin was seated behind the counter at her restaurant on the night of Saturday, April 17, when the would-be robber made his move at around 10.10pm.
“At that time there were no customers here, no orders. I was sitting at the back of the counter, playing with my phone. A young boy came running in, he had a knife and he said ‘give me your f***ing money’ and I saw the knife. I was screaming loud, trying to call the chef in the kitchen. He dropped the knife, I think maybe he was scared too, this was a young boy.”
She ran from the scene, while the robber picked up the knife and took off. Two men who had been working in the kitchen, one of whom was her husband, ran after him, but couldn’t catch up.
“I was so lucky I was behind the counter, if I was in front of it he would have ran straight up to me,” she said afterwards.
While she was shaken at the time, she said that the raider was probably as scared as she had been. She said that she had been unharmed and there had been no damage done in the restaurant.
Gardai are still investigating the incident and would like to speak to anyone who was in the vicinity and saw the male, or anyone who may have dashcam footage. They may be contacted at Shannon Garda Station on 061 365900.
The last few years have seen a small number of similiar incidents in Shannon.
In January there were two such robberies in a week, one at a business in Aidan Park and one a local takeaway. No one was hurt in either incident.
Owen Ryan
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked for a number of other regional titles in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
