In short:
Two bakery workers and a cleaner were tied up during an armed robbery at a shopping centre in Yarram, east of Melbourne.
A man and a woman tried to steal cash from an ATM at the centre in the early hours of Friday morning.
What’s next?
Police are seeking public assistance to identify the thieves.
Two bakers and a shopping centre cleaner were tied up and held at gunpoint during an early morning armed robbery in the small town of Yarram, in Victoria’s east.
Staff at Yarram Plaza Hot Bread were busy preparing for the day ahead when the male and female assailants entered the plaza complex about 4.15am.
It’s believed the offenders were waiting for the Plaza’s cleaner to come out and empty the bins before they attacked.
“They grabbed him from there and took him past the front of the bakery by gunpoint to the ATM machine and tried to get into that,” said bakery owner Kathryn Ireland.
Hearing a commotion, the two bakery employees went to investigate what was going on, before the attackers turned on them too.
“They were tied up together and placed on the floor in front of our bread slicers while they attempted to get into our cash registers,” Ms Ireland said.
“The cleaner of the Plaza was also tied up with our staff.”
After unsuccessfully trying to steal cash from both the ATM and bakery register, the attackers fled the scene with two pies.
“All they took was two pies,” Ms Ireland said.
“I don’t know what crawls into the minds of these people, I don’t understand it, I don’t think I ever will.”
Victims forced to wait
Tied up and sitting on the floor, the pastry chef raised the alarm with police through the SOS alert function on her smart watch.
Yarram Police Station is not a 24-hour station, meaning the closest available unit at the time was in Sale, 72 kilometres away.
Ms Ireland said the incident was a timely reminder of the need for a more regular police presence in the town.
“We did, unfortunately, have to wait a very long period for the police to turn up because there was no-one on call here at the time,” she said.
“They had to come from Sale, through kangaroo-infested roads.”
A Victorian government spokesperson said the incident was terrifying and “our thoughts are with the victims of this callous crime”.
The spokesperson said police provided a 24-hour police response to Victorians no matter where they lived, but operational decisions such as deployment of resources were “a matter for the chief commissioner”.
Staff members left ‘traumatised’
No one was injured, but Ms Ireland said she feared the memories of the early-morning attack would stay with the three individuals for life.
“Our pastry chef was pretty shaken when she called us,” she said.
“I don’t think anyone should go to work and be treated like that.
“I think this will be with her for life.”
All three victims were sent home for the day and offered both trauma support and counselling.
Meanwhile, community members have continued to reach out to the store to offer support.
One individual even offered to buy all the bakery’s produce so they could stop trade and process the day’s events.
Anyone who witnessed the incident or has dashcam or CCTV footage is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
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