A heavily pregnant young Fife woman told how she feared for the life of her unborn son when a masked armed robber held up the grocery store where she was working and demanded that she empty the till.
Kirsten Beveridge, who is due to give birth on February 4, was working her last day at Malkhas Minimarket, in Templehall, Kirkcaldy, on Sunday when the man brandishing a weapon entered the shop and demanded money from her.
He made off with a sum in the region of £600, leaving his victim visibly upset by her ordeal.
Speaking to The Courier in Templehall last night, Kirsten, 24, said: “I’d only just started my shift. He said something but had a scarf over his mouth so I couldn’t hear him.
“I laughed when I realised he’d said ‘empty the till’ because I thought he was kidding. He then pulled a screwdriver on me. I said ‘please don’t do anything, I’m pregnant’, and he said: ‘I’m sorry but please give me the
contents of the till’. He then left.”
Kirsten, who was working in the shop alone, broke down in tears when she realised what had happened.
Shop owner Fazal Sindhu, 33, told The Courier he was devastated by the latest incident which comes less than two years after he feared for his life as he stared down the barrel of a gun during another terrifying robbery at the shop.
In that case, the two hooded robbers were sentenced to four years and eight months each by Lord Pentland at the High Court in Dumbarton.
But the incidents have left their mark on Mr Sindhu.
He said: “People say Templehall is a rough area. But they are brilliant people here. For me though this is the second time this has happened and I want to move away now. I’m thinking about moving to Manchester. My sister is there. I’ve had enough.”
With the whole episode caught on CCTV, police have appealed for witnesses to the robbery which happened at around 2.30pm on Sunday at the shop on the corner of Birnam Road and Fair Isle Road.
See more in Tuesday’s Courier