Violent scenes as five teens allegedly assault staff and customer at Modbury bottle shop
Police have arrested five teenagers – two aged just 13 – after a brazen alleged bottle shop robbery left two people with head injuries. See the incident.
Five teenagers have been arrested over a violent confrontation at a Modbury bottle shop on Sunday evening that left a staff member and a customer injured.
Police allege a group entered the Thirsty Camel at Modbury Plaza Hotel on North East Rd just after 5pm, stole alcohol and assaulted both the worker and a customer inside the shop.
Two men, who sustained head and facial lacerations, were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Thirsty Camel Modbury operations manager Nick Rogers said it was not the first time the store had been targeted.
“Over the last 18 months to two years, it’s been a continuous fate, not just in our area, but everywhere,” he said.
“They’re kids and they would just come in and literally just grab stock and run out and if you try to stop them they’ll just threaten you.”
Store owner Steven King said he’d been in the industry for decades and it was the worst it had ever been.
“I pay hundreds and thousands of dollars in tax, it’s about time the government started providing a safe work environment to run a business … that’s the bottom line,” he said.
Mr King said the incident was “despicable” and “cowardly”, saying the perpetrators should serve “six months in jail”.
“There’s no consequences, they know they’re under 18, they’ll be out the next day,” he told 9News.
“I’ve been (at the) hotel 60 years, I worked in the bottle shop … It is the worst it has ever been.”
The suspects fled the scene on foot, but northern and eastern district patrols arrived quickly and arrested four teens after a short foot chase.
A fifth teen was located soon after during further searches of the area.
A 13-year-old girl from Felixstow, a 13-year-old girl from Pooraka, a 15-year-old boy from Tonsley, a 14-year-old boy from Plympton Park and an 18-year-old man from St Agnes have all been charged with aggravated robbery.
Police say the 15-year-old Tonsley boy faces further charges of theft and two counts of aggravated assault.
He did not apply for police bail and was expected to front the Adelaide Youth Court on Monday.
The remaining teens were granted police bail with strict conditions and will appear in the Youth Court in January.
Crime Scene investigators examined the shop on Sunday night, while detectives continue to make inquiries to identify and locate additional suspects.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via the online portal.
The Modbury robbery comes amid a series of violent bottle shop incidents involving teens across Adelaide this year.
In October, a gang of up to 12 youths – some as young as 10 – allegedly unleashed a violent rampage at a Plympton bottle shop.
Staff at The Highway Thirsty Camel were terrorised as rocks were thrown, windows were smashed, and a metal star dropper was hurled at workers, while a staff member was punched repeatedly in the face.
Two boys were later found almost 24 hours after the attack and taken into custody.
In May, three youths – two aged 14 and one 17 – were arrested after allegedly breaking into a Newton bottle shop with a shovel and posting footage of the incident to social media.
Police arrived after alarm activations at the Gorge Rd store and arrested the teens soon after.
In January, The Highway Thirsty Camel was targeted twice in seven days, including an armed robbery where a woman allegedly threatened staff with a screwdriver before stealing alcohol.
In a separate incident the week prior, a worker was stabbed with scissors while another staff member suffered a dislocated knee that required surgery.
Police and retail crime experts warned at the time that bottle shops were facing an escalation in “brazen” violent robberies.
