Remember when: An elderly man tackled an armed robbery at a Bundall bank holdup in 2000

AN ELDERLY man threw himself at an armed robber during a bank holdup at Bundall, belting the man with a rubbish bin before being bashed over the head with a rifle.

Flashback: an armed robbery foiled

Gold Coast Bulletin, Tuesday June 20, 2000

AN ELDERLY man threw himself at an armed robber during a bank holdup at Bundall, belting the man with a rubbish bin before being bashed over the head with a rifle.

The man, believed to be in his 70s at the time, was left with a bleeding head after the bandit eventually made his getaway.

The delay allowed other bank customers to take details of the bandit’s getaway car and contact the police.

He was arrested a short time later.

In what was the fourth armed robbery on the Gold Coast in a three-day period, the bandit walked into the Westpac bank in Bundall Road at about 10.30am the previous day.

Inspector Len Potts said police believed the 28-year-old Worongary man was responsible for armed robberies at the Robina Independent Fuel Station the previous weekend.

Gold Coast Bulletin 2000, June 20. Front page.

Witness Robyn Greig said the elderly man was left bleeding after the robber bashed him with the rifle, breaking it in two.

“I asked the old guy afterwards, why did you do it? Why did you tackle a man with a rifle?,” said Ms Greig.

“He just said I wasn’t going to let the bastard get away. I wanted to see his face.”

The rifle used in the robbery was broken in half during the scuffle and was recovered by police.

Meanwhile, the Bulletin’s Tuesday magazine celebrated its one-year anniversary after it was launched in June 1999.