A hero shopkeeper used a snooker cue to fight off a masked knifeman and send him packing – in just eight seconds.
James Townsley, 22, burst into Gaitside Stores in Garthdee, along with two other males, with his face covered and brandishing a large kitchen knife.
But far from cowering in fear, brave shop worker Mirza Nawaz grabbed a snooker cue and went after the would-be robbers, who instantly turned and fled.
Mr Nawaz then chased the cowardly criminals down the street.
Fiscal depute Jane Spark told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened around 8pm on September 20 2021.
Children in shop during terrifying raid
Townsley and two friends, all wearing masks, entered the small convenience shop and asked for cigarettes.
Mr Nawaz said he would need to see their faces if he was going to sell them cigarettes.
Townsley briefly pulled down his mask, but did not have enough money and so initially turned and left.
Shortly after, and while two children were present in the shop, Townsley and the other males burst back in and “surrounded the till area”.
Townsley stood directly in front of Mr Nawaz brandishing a “large kitchen knife” and shouting “give me the money”.
Ms Spark told the court: “One of the unidentified males tried to get in behind the counter, at which point Mr Nawaz, afraid for his safety, picked up a snooker cue.
“When they saw this the accused and his two friends ran from the store.
‘You’d better us our money or we’re coming to your mum’s house’
“Mr Nawaz immediately gave chase.”
He did not catch the fleeing men but met another witness outside who described him as “quite shaken up”.
The incident was captured on CCTV.
Ms Spark continued: “Police became aware of the accused’s involvement when his mother contacted them to advise she believed he had been involved in a robbery and that he had admitted as much to his brother.
“The accused handed himself into the police on October 4 2021 and was detained and interviewed, where he admitted being behind the shop robbery attempt and ‘having a little blade thing’.”
Townsley, of Garthdee Terrace, pled guilty to attempted robbery and possession of a knife.
Defence agent Iain Hingston read from a transcript of his client’s police interview, in which he explained he’d committed the offence in a bid to get money to pay off someone else’s drug debt after he and his family were threatened.
He said: “The Scousers, I didn’t want them hurting my mum.
“They said ‘you’d better give us our money or we’re coming to your mum’s house – £5,000’.
‘I feel quite disgusted with myself’
“If I don’t get it they’ll chop off one of my fingers. The same goes for my brothers as well.
“So I done what I had to do to save them from getting hurt.”
Mr Hingston said Townsley had taken 50 valiums before committing the offence.
Asked how he felt about what he’d done and the fact children had been in the shop at the time, Townsley told the officers: “I feel quite disgusted with myself.
“That’s not a way to be living. You shouldn’t be doing that, especially in front of kids.
“You need to be a role model. I’m trying to change.”
Sheriff Graham Buchanan interjected: “It makes you wonder why he didn’t go to the police in relation to all these terrible threats being made.
‘It’s just the law of the jungle’
“The obvious thing to do if people are making threats like that is to go to the police.”
Mr Hingston said: “My Lord knows how dangerous some of these people can be.”
Sheriff Buchanan replied: “I do know that. But if one doesn’t do that [go to the police] then it’s just the law of the jungle.”
Mr Hingston added that Townsley had had a troubled upbringing and that the incident had lasted just eight seconds before he fled the store.
Addressing Townsley directly, the sheriff said the incident must have been a “frightening experience” for the shopkeeper.
He went on: “I’m of the opinion, in all the circumstances, that there is no alternative to the imposition of a sentence of imprisonment.”
He jailed him for two years, backdated to November 20 when first remanded, and imposed a 12-month supervised release order.
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